Ascendancy of the Sith
by prjones339
Summary: Sequel to Ahsoka's Twin. With Dooku's death, Gràinne must now take on the mantle of Empress. It was time to free the galaxy of Jedi tyranny, or so she believes. Rated at the high end of T
1. Prologue

Twenty years had passed. Dooku lay on his deathbed, with his apprentice and acolytes about him. The people of Talamh gathered around the Sith complex, waiting for their ruler to reveal himself. Reaching out for Serpeness's hand, he shakily breathed, "Serpeness, you… you were like a daughter to me, as Qui-Gon was like a son."

The Togruta held back her tears, "Yes, Master."

"Take my power, it is all I have left to give. You have learned well Apprentice." He paused, struggling to breathe, "Strike me down, and become more powerful than you could ever be alone."

"Master…" she tried to protest, but she knew it was pointless. Dooku was a dead man already: he was 104, he had taught her everything he knew, and together they had rediscovered ancient Sith teachings and practices.

The Jawa Poblithes, her official apprentice, held her other hand, getting her attention. "_Máistir_," he said to her reassuringly, "_Tha an t-àm ann leigeil leat falbh. Dh 'ionnsaich e dhuinn uile gu math, agus a-nis feumaidh sinn an t-sìth a choisinn e a thoirt dha."_

"_Tha fios agam,"_ Serpeness replied, teary-eyed. Holding her darksaber to Dooku's chest. She kissed his forehead, "Thank you Master. For everything," with that, she ignited her blade, allowing for Dooku's essence to enter her, his strength adding to her own. She could hear his voice in the back of her mind, "I will be with you. Always."

Extinguishing her saber, she stood and turned: all the present Sith, students of her master and herself, kneeled. An older student of theirs and one of the first acolytes, an Abyssinian, whose title was Lord Vengeance, declared, "All hail the new Empress. Long live Empress MacGuffin."

Nodding she walked to the balcony, the citizens gathering below to hear news of Dooku's death. Torchlight's faint glow illumining the night. She raised her hands to her shoulders and unleashed a storm of Force Lightning into the sky, lighting the surrounding area as if it were daylight. Focusing her strength she forced the electricity to spell out _TYRANNSUS IS DEAD. EMPRESS SERPENESS NOW RULES._ Before she would have nearly collapsed from the effort, but now, she wielded the Strength of Two. Below her, the crowd began chanting, "Serpeness! Empress! Serpeness! Empress! Serpeness! Empress!" She looked upon her new empire and felt the Force surging within her. Her army had been completed, the Sith Order, the Brotherhood of Darkness, had been reforged. She would see her Master's dream to fruition. A galaxy at peace. She looked upon her empire and saw that it was good.


	2. Chapter 1: Teth

Jinn clashed blades with Mina, who leapt back to get distance on him landing on a rope strung across the canyon. Jinn looked at her exasperated, "Come on! That's cheating!"

"Sorry Sky-boy, but I never said I play fair," Mina replied with a wink before dashing across the cord.

Jinn groaned in annoyance but followed his opponent, nonetheless, shakily balancing on the single rope across the very, very wide chasm. Deactivating his green sabre he stepped onto the rope, almost immediately falling into the valley below. "I am one with the Force and the Force is with me, I am one with the Force and the Force is with me, I am one with the Force," he muttered nervously, eyes closed as he tried to focus on maintaining his balance, using the Force to help do so.

"Sky-boy!" Mina called, snapping Jinn's eyes open to see the Togruta-Human hybrid holding her rose blade millimeters away from the rope.

"No," he barely whispered.

"What was that?" Mina toyed, knowing full well what he said.

"Please! Don't!"

"Please do? Okay!" Mina flicked her wrist to cut the rope Jinn was standing on as the latter screamed in terror, his flailing arms immediately grabbing onto the rope out of pure instinct and probably saving his life. Granted Mina would have saved him… probably would have saved him… okay maybe would have saved him if she felt like it… but that hardly helped the situation as he slammed into the cliffside, very nearly losing his grip. He looked up at the other cliff and saw Mina blow a kiss to him, declaring "See ya later!" and bolting off into the jungle. He really and truly hated that woman.

Finally clambering up to the top of the cliff, he felt himself being lifted with the Force, "Leia."

"Girlfriend ditch you again?" his twin asked, rolling her eyes.

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Sure she's not, that's why she always flirts with you."

"She flirts with everyone."

"It's different with you."

"Put me down." When Leia complied, he dusted himself off, "You know one of these days I'll beat her at this course."

"Sure, and I'll be on the Council tomorrow."

"Well Dad was a knight when he was on the Council. You'll get knighted soon enough."

"You know as well as I do the only reason that he wasn't a Master was Coruscant politics," Leia commented, "I mean, that's all he ever talks about half the time."

"That's not _all_ dad ever talks about. You would do well to listen to him more."

Leia rolled her eyes and turned away from him, walking back to the Jedi complex to finish her own training course. "I'm getting tired of having to train for both of us," she muttered.

Jinn sighed and sat down at the edge of the cliff, waiting on Mina to come back. He knew she had already beaten him, again. Closing his eyes, he tried to meditate. His stepmom was significantly better at teaching him the calmer aspects of Jedi life than his father who was more proficient in combative arts, despite his aversion to violence, and like her he always excelled at it. Slowing his breathing, decreasing his heartrate to the barest minimum required for life, all physical functions slowed to a crawl. His connection to the Force became all encompassing, as the Force enveloped his levitating form. His "official" master, Barriss Offee, was always proud of how well he had done in his studies, but both his dad and Master Kenobi kept telling him he had to get better at the physical aspects of the life of a Jedi if he ever wanted to become knighted. _"This is so stupid!" _Luke's mind pondered, _"We rarely leave the Temple and _never_ get involved in huge fights. Hell, I planned on becoming an archivist; after I'm knighted, I'll probably never light my saber again! Why should I learn to master something I'll never use?"_

Mina looked over the undergrowth she was hiding in, silent as the night. Her hunter instincts guiding her every move. Baring her teeth in a grin she listened for even the slightest indication that Jinn sensed her. He had been meditating for the past three hours and she had already come back to Master Kenobi with the text in hand, and Barriss had asked Mina to go retrieve her padawan for her. She never said she _couldn't_ scare the crap out of him when she did though. Slinking silently through the shrubbery of the jungle floor, her montrals fine-tuned to even the slightest movements. She was only a meter behind him. Slowly, quietly standing to her feet, she held out her arms to push him towards the cliff.

"Are you quite finished?" Jinn asked, giving Mina a heart attack and causing her to stumble backwards, crashing loudly onto a pile of sticks and leaves. Much to her annoyance, he chuckled as he landed on the ground and stood to his feet.

"Not. Funny," she complained, brushing her leggings of any leaf litter stuck to her.

"It is for me. Especially after that little cutting the rope' stunt you pulled."

"You act like I didn't know you'd catch it."

"That doesn't matter! What if I didn't?!"

"You are _so _much like Aunt Barriss."

"Well I am her Padawan."

Mina rolled her eyes as they walked back to the complex, continuing to tease Jinn about how she always beats him. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you _want_ to stay behind me just to get a look at my ass."

"That is _not_ why I'm always behind you," he argued, glancing at said ass, "You're just better at acrobatics than I am. I can totally trounce you in _anything_ academic."

"Yeah right!"

"Speaking of how much better I am than you at our studies, you still need me to come tutor you on your history? Tomorrow afternoon, right?" Jinn asked smugly, knowing full well the answer was in the affirmative.

"Ok fair enough."

Finally coming to her parents' apartment Mina looked over her shoulder to Jinn, "see you tomorrow then?"

"See you tomorrow."

Smiling she turned back to the door and walked somewhat slowly to her door. _"He's totally staring."_

Leia smacked him on the back of the head as she walked past, coming to report to her master on her progress. She had even made a new time. He slinked back to his own master's apartment somewhat embarrassed at having been caught, by his own sister no less. Nodding, she said "Hey Mina."

"Hey Leia," Mina replied punching in the entrance code for their lock and opening to door. On the small table their pet loth cat was napping but woke up at the sound of the door. Her collar jingled as she bounded over and leapt into Mina's arms, "Hey Spleens!" she quietly cooed while Leia scratched the animal's fluffy chin.

Ahsoka's voice could be heard in the other room, "Dammit Lux! We've been married for two decades! If you want to jerk it to my feet just ask me to take my shoes off instead of sneaking holos while I'm sleeping! Kriffing weirdo!"

"It's less fun that way!" Lux protested.

"MOM! DAD!" Mina shouted in disgusted horror while Leia stared with her mouth agape in horrified disgust.

Poking her head around the corner, montrals black in embarrassment as her child and her student were _definitely_ not supposed to hear this conversation, Ahsoka called out to her oldest daughter "Mina! When did you get back?"

"Right when you were screaming about Dad's foot fetish. Ugh, just the words make me want to puke!"

"Sorry, Obi-Wan said you weren't supposed to come back until dinner," Ahsoka chuckled before clearing her throat, "How's Twi'leki food sound?"

"I'll let you know after I barf up my lunch right quick."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes at her daughter's dramatic nature, "Alright, Twi'leki it is. What about you Leia? You staying for dinner?"

"Can't. Fifth night."

"Oh, right. Well, happy Chanukah."

"Thanks. Erm, do you want my report or…"

"Just. Just give it to me tomorrow."

"Right. I'm going to try to forget this happened."

"Please do."

Jinn knocked on his master's door, no answer. Weird. Knocking again, a bit louder, he heard Master Offee reply, "Enter." Opening the door revealed her to be in a meditating pose, having spent the time in a similar manner to himself. Turning to face him though, she had a glare that would have killed him if she were a Sith, "Where were you!"

"I got way too far behind Mina to ever catch up, so I decided to meditate instead. I lost track of time," Jinn confessed sheepishly.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Barriss groaned in frustration. Petro had never had this problem, quite the opposite. Thanks to her tutelage he managed to calm himself enough to truly connect with the Living Force. Jinn, Jinn's problem was one she wasn't sure if she could fix. She had selected him because of how good of a fit they were together but that was just the problem: he was _too much _like her for her to not sound like a complete hypocrite when she scolded him. "Do you know why Kenobi and I have you race Mina?"

"Not… really, no?"

"To try and make you push yourself. We already know she's athletic. We already know she'll get that scroll a thousand times, and she'll beat you to it 999 of those times. We're trying, _desperately trying_, to make you get to that _one_. Then that one will become two, then three, and so on. You're more than capable, you just need to see it for yourself!"

"I just don't understand why I'm even doing this! We don't get involved in conflicts, I almost never leave the Temple except to go work in Dad's garage or pick up some power converters, I doubt I'll ever even pick up my lightsaber again after I'm knighted! If I'm going to become an archivist then I'll never have to use any of the skills you're trying to drill into me lately!"

"You're right."

"What?"

"You're right. You probably won't ever have to use your lightsaber. In fact, I _hope _and _pray_ you never have to use it. Because I had to. Your father had to. Aunt Ahsoka had to. We _all_ had to."

Jinn looked down; he knew that none of the masters ever brought up the Clone War unless they absolutely had to. His histories told him enough, he even studied a few of the battles his father fought in, and how the first battle involved his mother.

Barriss placed her hand on his arm, "I just want you to be ready, in case one day you might be forced to draw your weapon."

"Yes, master."

"Go home. I'm sure Luminara is worried sick."

She most certainly was worried sick, and Jinn definitely got an earful when he came into the house. After his younger siblings came along, they had to leave the main housing structure and construct a larger private house within the complex, hardly a strange phenomenon as a lot of Jedi had large families. His youngest brother, Owen, twelve years old now, hobbled to the table. He had cerebral palsy but despite that was at roughly the same rate as the other younglings, getting some leeway in the physical requirements of course. His four sisters, Shmi (17), Zotue (16), Nespvi (14), and of course Leia (20) in various phases of snickering or eye-rolling at Jinn's tardiness.

"What did Barriss have to say about it?!"

"That you were worried sick."

"I was!"

Anakin got between them, "Lumi, let him be. I'll talk to him later. It's almost time for the candle lighting."

Sighing in annoyance, Luminara Skywalker pointed at Jinn and said, "He's the reason my hair is gray and falling out."

"Yes babe, I'm sure it has _nothing_ to do with you being fifty-five," Anakin teased.

"Shut up and light the menorah," Luminara ordered.

Anakin smirked, kissed her on the nose and lit the _shamash_, and recited:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה אֲדֹנָי אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לְהַדְלִיק נֵר חֲנֻכָּה

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה אֲדֹנָי אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם שֶׁעָשָׂה נִסִּים לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם בִּזְּמַן הַזֶּה

Lighting the five candles, he replaced the helper candle and the family ate their dinner together.

**A/N: Ok, so that's Chapter 1 done and dusted. As for the Chanukah bit, well funny story because I can actually justify that at least semi-canonically. The actress who plays Padmé, Natalie Portman aka Neta-Lee Hershlag is an Orthodox Jewish Israeli, therefore halachically her children are/would be Jewish and any potential non-Jewish spouse would have to convert, and in **_**Empire Strikes Back**_** we see Vader's control panel has labels written in Hebrew (ok, gibberish written with Hebrew letters but close enough). So Hebrew, the ancestral and liturgical language of the Jewish people, is canonically in Star Wars! Therefore, somewhere, there are Jews in the Star Wars galaxy! Finally, our dear princess Carrie Fischer, may her memory be a blessing, was a Reform Jew. Likewise, in **_**Ahsoka's Twin**_** I had made a reference to the Mirialan language (as far as I know not currently established as to what it is like Huttese or Jawaese are) by having Barriss refer to a "savtah," which is the Hebrew word for grandma. Furthermore, in the events which occurred on Earth during Dooku and Gràinne's reigns, people would have started to leave for other worlds, bringing their traditions with them. Probably going to be the last reference to that, I just thought it was cool and I'm really into the Chanukah spirit at the moment.**


	3. Chapter 2: Talamh

"Gràinne," Séamus pleaded in the privacy of their bedchamber, "please. Come to the cathedral and hear our daughter sing."

"You know I can't," Gràinne replied dejectedly, "You know _why_ I can't."

"I can assure you; nobody would dare lift a finger against you. You rule the entire world! Several!"

"That doesn't change people's minds about me being in the church."

"_A chuisle-"_

"No, my mind is made up. I can't go."

Séamus sighed, "Nobody gives Aislinn a stray glance. The old church is either dead of age or silenced, people are more tolerant of non-humans now." They had to be, with Sith recruitment bringing in all sorts of species from across the galaxy, seeing Twi'leks, Togrutas, Duros, and humans in the same houses of worship was an increasingly common sight.

Gràinne turned to face him, her eyes wet with tears, "I just can't bring myself to set foot in a church again. Not after what they've done, and not after what I've done."

"Please, it would mean the galaxy to her."

"I know," the broken Empress choked out, "I just don't have the strength to face it."

Séamus put his large hands on her slender shoulders, kissing the top of her head between her montrals, "I know you do. It's just whether or not you know you do." Turning away he dressed for church, the Christmas Eve service, the final night of Advent. Despite his wife's aversion to the Church, he was a devoted Catholic, as was their daughter. Gràinne's pregnancy first showed signs shortly after their reuniting. Their only child, she was spoiled rotten with everything they had never had as children yet still maintained good values and a soft heart. Gràinne's heart ached for her child, afflicted with a fatal illness that the court physician couldn't diagnose, was slowly dying and despite her mother's best efforts, despite her strength in the Force, refused to study the Dark Side. Gràinne refused to attend services, but not solely out of trauma. In contrast to what she had led Séamus to believe, a far greater part of her reasoning was to avoid watching her daughter slowly die in front of her. She just couldn't force herself to see it, she wasn't strong enough. She wasn't strong enough to save her own baby.

Séamus entered the Cathedral just before the beginning of the Advent Sermon. Crossing himself upon stepping within the threshold, he came to his seat at the very front row, next to a Zabrak couple, he forgot what name and rank the obvious Sith was but cared little beyond the expected friendly greeting. Once all present were seated, noble, peasant, Sith, and homemaker, the priest began his sermon, "Christmas Eve, we light the final candle of Advent, the light to welcome the birth of our lord, Jesus Christ…" On and on, the evening went, the door occasionally opening as latecomers walked in, whispering in hushed tones to get to an available seat in the pews. The Eucharist was given and Séamus, being in the front row and therefore closest to the priest, was among the first in line to receive Communion. Returning to his seat, he awaited the distribution of the body of Christ to end and the choir to begin their portion of the service.

The door quietly opened again, another latecomer. Séamus questioned the point of coming so late in the service but paid little mind to it as soon as he saw his daughter, his little princess, Aislinn at the head of the choir. Singing together in Latin for the first thirty minutes, he bowed his head again in prayer, begging G-d to grant his child healing. He was always a strong Catholic but had personally never believed in miracles until Barriss healed him, all those years ago. He quietly tried to nudge his daughter to learn her mother's abilities with this story of the emerald angel, but she wouldn't hear of it. Ending his prayers just in time, he lifted his head once more as Aislinn's solo, in English, was to be sung. An unusual choice for a Scottish-ruled empire, but services were given in Latin and the local language under the new rules and Aislinn had moved to Winchester ten years ago to turn away from her mother's Sith academy. When her time came, she sang the song selected for her, her voice lifting up like an angel's, a soft-spoken angel with a heart and song of gold.

_On a Starry Night in Bethlehem,  
A child was born to bring light to men,  
And our faith waned, our eyes grew dim.  
In a candle's light, we found hope again._

The choir joined in to sing the chorus, but Aislinn's voice rang above the rest.

_There are miracles all around,  
Miracles yet to be found.  
Hid in every heart is an answered prayer.  
Like a candle's flame, hope will lead us there._

_When the darkness comes, let the light shine through.  
A spark of faith will ignite in you.  
In a candle's glow, a virgin's womb,  
In a simple prayer, in the empty tomb._

_There are miracles all around,  
Miracles yet to be found.  
Hid in every heart is an answered prayer.  
Like a candle's flame, hope will lead us there._

_When the light has dawned on Christmas Day,  
We will lift one voice in endless praise.  
When the light has dawned on Christmas Day,  
We will say_

_There are miracles all around,  
Miracles here to be found.  
Hid in every heart is an answered prayer.  
Like a candle's flame, hope will lead us there._

As the worshipers clapped, the priest dismissed them. Some ran to the confession booths while most others left to prepare Christmas dinner. Aislinn went to her father and hugged him, her tiny frame almost comical against his 7'2." They were usually the last to leave before the clergy, and they pleasantly talked much ado about nothing as the minutes passed, turning to an hour. Standing, Aislinn and Séamus turned, "Let's go home," he told her in Irish.

"I love you Dad," she responded in kind.

"I love you too Aislinn." Together they turned to leave the Cathedral to find that aside from the priest, some members of the choir, and the altar boys, there was one still sitting in the church with them, in the very back. A single pair of montrals revealed who she was.

"Mom?" Aislinn asked, hardly believing her eyes. "Mom? Is that really you?"

"It is sweetheart," Gràinne answered, enveloping her child in the tightest embrace she had given in years and breaking down into tears. How often had she cried in anguish for her daughter? Begged her to use her knowledge? To allow a mother to save the life of her child? Tonight, she cried in joy and love of the very same child. Her little angel.


	4. Chapter 3: Onderon

Iziz, capital of Onderon and permanent home of the Bonteri family, although due to Ahsoka's mentorship of Leia Skywalker they did spend a significant amount of time on Teth. However, for the next few weeks they would stay at the Bonteri estate. Having retired from his seat in the Galactic Senate this election cycle, Lux planned to spend the next few years with his family before maybe going for a local office. Board of Education perhaps? A droid unlocked the door for the family, " Master Lux Bonteri, Mistress Ahsoka Tano-Bonteri. Welcome home."

"Hey L5," Mina replied, holding her eight-year-old brother's hand "Keep the place ready for us?"

"As always mistress Mina."

"Mina?" Lux asked, "Can you help Anakin take his bag up to his room?"

"Sure Dad, come on squirt, let's get upstairs."'

"Daytarn?" Ahsoka asked her other son, age thirteen, "Get Spleens out of the speeder."

"Cat's right here," Daytarn answered, holding up the pet carrier with Spleens yowling inside wanting out.

"Oh, then go ahead and let her out. Give her, her tinkle ball or something."

Placing the tookah-cat toy in front of the door he unlatched it and Spleens leapt out, immediately attacking the tinkle toy as Ahsoka shut the door behind them to keep her from getting outside again. Last thing they needed was _another_ set of kittens to try and give away. Especially with Mina's weird fascination with naming pets after organs or drugs: the last set were almost impossible with chipped names like Tonsils, Colon, Kidneys, Cocaine, Scapula, and Femur. Why couldn't she be normal and name at least one of them something like Mittens or Button? Or even punny like Meowseph or Bartholomew. No, Cocaine. That was Mina's idea of a cat name. A cat they were _giving away_, she named _Cocaine_. It wasn't even a white kitten! The white one was Tonsils! They were lucky her padawan, for whatever reason, thought it was equally hilarious and adopted him. That was also the last time she went to the vet, or an animal shelter, or a pet store, unsupervised because Force-knows what she'd bring home and name "Methany" or "Testicle," or whatever else popped into her strange little brain. She once showed her mother an ad for a rancor hatchling named Spatula, to which Ahsoka promptly replied "Hell no." Spleens,a_ cat,_ was more than enough, even if she was cute rubbing up against her leg purring.

Poblithes walked through the Iziz market. His master had confirmed that they would begin their assault to save the galaxy from the Jedi Darkness within the month. Most didn't bother looking at him, some didn't even notice him, that was fine. He was there to gather intelligence anyway, not that anything all that interesting was happening on the planet he was assigned to. Some guy was retiring from the Senate and the three upcoming holders of the seat were scumbags, some middle-aged lady went berserk at a fruit stall when they didn't sell cat food, and overall it seemed nothing overly useful was being muttered in the throngs of people in the Iziz market. Tossing a credit at a news stand he sat at a bench pretending to be reading a magazine article until he found one article that seemed quite interesting: _Jedi Order forms Political Party on Coruscant_.

The Jawa smiled under his hood, now _this_ was useful. Folding up the magazine he placed it in his satchel for later reading. Standing up, well falling down really, from his seat, he walked towards the throngs again when a younger human man nearly stepped on him. "Watch where you're going, little rat!" he shouted angrily. He remembered that face from an ad in the very same magazine, he was one of the Senate candidates, apparently out to get a photo op and to celebrate the recent primary win with his sycophants. Electing to ignore him, Poblithes tried to push through the group. "Careful, probably out to pickpocket people," the Senate hopeful mocked, earning chuckles from his yes men and a few passersby.

"You should work to put all the Jawas in jail, where they belong!" one particularly scummy-looking fellow suggested. Poblithes clenched his teeth and tried to ignore them. He was here to gather intelligence, not spark conflict.

"That would be a great idea, had I not already thought of it," the politician replied, kicking at the hidden Sith Lord, heir to an Empire spanning a quarter of the galaxy, "Little freaks would probably like that. All kind of thieves and scum just like them in there to keep them company."

Poblithes stopped, fists balled and his little body shaking. He replied in perfect, Coruscanti-accented English/Basic, "You would do well to mind your tongue. Especially when you know not who you speak to."

"Oh, so the little freak can talk like a normal person!" the soon-to-be-dead-if-he-didn't-quit Senate candidate joked, squatting down to Poblithes's eye-level "So uhm, what you gonna do? Huh, Jawa?"

"I will give you three seconds to apologize to me before I make you swallow your pride."

The group surrounding him laughed, "I'm sure Master Slugwirm quite scared of a harmless little Jawa," the minion who suggested imprisoning him based on his race sarcastically responded.

"One..." the Jawa counted.

Slugwirm grinned, standing up, "You won't do anything."

"Two…" the Sith Lord counted, reaching for his lightsaber with the Force.

"I'm not afraid of you twerps."

"Three," Poblithes calmly stated, igniting his ruby-bladed crossguard saber and slashing it through the imbecile's torso, bisecting him effortlessly. The brownnosers went scrambling, as did the rest of the marketplace, but Poblithes effortlessly grabbed the ones laughing at him with the force and started to choke them. "Oh, so you were hoping to get money or power from sucking up to that bully? Try not to choke on those ambitions of yours." With the pun he strangled all but one, the one who actively joked with Slugwirm who he threw onto the ground at his feet. Pointing to the terrified man he blankly ordered, "Beg."

"P-please!" the sniveling coward cried, prostrating on the ground in front of the apparent Dark Jedi, "I-I-I-I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

"No you're not. You're only sorry you picked on the wrong Jawa."

"I'll never speak a word against Jawas again, I swear it! I swear it on all the gods! Please! I'll leave you forever in peace!"

"Well, I prefer you in pieces," Poblithes joked before shredding the bully into smaller and smaller bits, frying them with lightning after he had done so. Nodding in satisfaction as the pile of bodies and body parts about him he deactivated his blades looked around at the now abandoned Iziz marketplace. Sighing in frustration he muttered, "Boring conversations anyway," and walked back towards the ship he arrived in. Being Serpeness's Apprentice and heir came with a few extra perks, one of which was being the only other being allowed to fly the _Millennium Falcon_. Starting up the autopilot and setting a hyperlane course for Talamh and patting his astromech PT-77 on the dome he went to finish that magazine article.

_Jedi Order Forms Political Party on Coruscant_

_In a stunning turn of events Grand Master Mace Windu has stated in a press release that the Jedi Order, formally a religious organization devoted to serving the Republic, would politicize its existence. In an interview Council Member Coleman stated, "For a thousand generations the Jedi have defended and served the Republic, protected the Republic's interests, millions of Jedi over the years have fought and died to preserve it and keep it safe from all threats, internal and external. Yet, in the Separatist Crisis, we were nearly eradicated by the terrorist dictator-wannabe Sheev Palpatine. Who in the Republic protected our interests? None, we stand alone yet are expected to serve an increasingly hostile Senate, with Palpatine Loyalists at every turn trying to bring about our destruction and trying to welcome his tyranny in the galaxy. Without the Jedi to act as guardians, the Republic collapses into darkness." The Council responded to accusations of Coruscant-centric views by stating, "We have Jedi from almost every world in the Republic. We'll do everything in our power to see to it every planet is represented." They would not respond to questions on the Order's continued hostility against the Reformists. Opponents to the move question the Jedi's impartiality in resolving conflicts if they become a political organization, while more extreme opponents consider the Jedi a single-minded cult that has no place in galactic government._

Poblithes read on, nodding as the pieces clicked together. The Jedi were trying to attempt a quiet coup. The Sith Imperium and the Brotherhood of Darkness would bring light to the galaxy (wait a minute…) in a renewed time of turmoil. The Jedi couldn't be allowed to take over the dying Republic. Those warmongers would destroy everything in sight in pointless crusades. Only the Sith could bring peace and prosperity while the Jedi, for a thousand generations, watched it fall to pieces in war and strife. His master's empire, and one day his empire, would see all war come to an end. They only needed to get the rest of the galaxy to see their way was the way of peace, even if they needed to bring peace by force.

Emergency services rushed to the murder scene police droids closing off the Iziz market to investigate. Unfortunately for investigators the only security footage was facing towards the stalls instead of the street save for one fueling station too distant to clearly make out what happened, thus leaving only audio recordings that were at all useful. "Well it looks like our assassin was a Jawa," a detective muttered, "Great. No description even if we did have holo-vids of it."

"Well we know he can speak Basic, so we got that to narrow down potential suspects."

"That's still thousands, maybe even millions."

"Can't rule out the possibility of a hit either."

"A Jawa hitman?" the first asked incredulously, "You been drinking on the job, man?"

"Hey, if you're going to be a hitman a Jawa would be the best species you could hope to be. No real descriptors beyond 'Jawa,' nobody pays attention to you, and Jawas live literally everywhere."

"Just to clarify, you're suggesting the assassin could have been working for somebody else, likely one of Slugwirm's opponents for the Senate, because such a hitman is literally uncatchable."

"Well it's a theory."

"It's a kriffing stupid theory."

"You got a better one?"

"Not really."

"Alright. We'll let forensics gather what they can and we'll go question our two main suspects."

"I think this is ridiculous, just for the record."

"I'll send the order to keep tabs on their bank transactions."

Thatilda Madillion was sitting in her living room awaiting confirmation from the assassin that Slugwirm was dead. She had sent him out only twenty minutes ago and would likely not hear anything for days, possibly even weeks. Taking a sip of her tea, she heard a knock at the door. Standing, she straightened her dress and a picture next to the door before opening to reveal two human investigators. "Baroness Madillion, Iziz PD. I'm Detective Black and he's Detective White. We have a few questions for you. Your responses will be recorded for the investigation."

"Oh? O-of course." she asked, nervous. Had the assassin already gotten caught? Idiot! She should have hired a Jawa to do the deed.

"Are you aware of your opponent Slugwirm's recent death at the hands of an assassin?" one asked.

Taken aback, her eyes widened. "_Damn that was fast!" _she thought. However she said, "Uh, I, no! Oh dear that's, that's so sad. My condolences to his family."

"His two brothers were also found dead at the scene of the crime," Detective White clarified, as Slugwirm had no other living familial relations.

She blinked in response to that, thinking _"Twenty minutes and he killed not only Janjiro but his entire family! Did I hit the jackpot of contract killers or what?!"_ She cleared her throat, "Oh, that's even worse. How… how did they die, if I may ask?"

"Bodies indicate a lightsaber. Possibly illegally modified vibroblades."

_Weird. I could have sworn I requested a sniper rifle._ "That's horrific! But why are you asking me this?"

"Well in the current polls you were running second place in the Senate race after Slugwirm. That in mind, you have the most to gain from his death."

"Well I can assure you I had nothing to do with it!" Mandilion declared defensively, "Slugwirm may have been my opponent but I wouldn't stoop to _murder_ just to win an election!"

Both Detectives looked at one another in obvious disbelief. Bonteri's retirement brought out the worst sleemos Onderon had to offer. "I think we have all we need, Thank you Baroness."

"Yes, and good luck on your investigation!" she replied, locking her door back and immediately transferring 500,000 credits to the assassin with the note: "Great work!" Hitting a red flag in the police observation. The Detectives hadn't even walked out of her yard before they turned right back around and banged on the door to arrest her.

Cad Bane was more than a little confused by the premature payment but took it without question regardless. His last job was now even easier, having been paid to do literally nothing.


	5. Chapter 4: Preparations

Anakin stroked his beard, now chest-length, a twinge of gray mixed with the dishwater blonde, deep in though. The silence of the Sith had been suspicious, but now the Teth Council met to ponder the possibilities this daylight assassination entailed. Obi-Wan looked at him with concern in his eyes, Ahsoka's hologram flickering with the same expression on her face. Luminara held his hand. Shaking his head Anakin could only day one thing, "Our worst fears have been realized. Dooku trained Ahsoka's sister to completion. She took for herself an apprentice. I don't know what they could have planned, but if it involves assassinating Senate candidates, it can't mean anything good."

"Do you think," Ahsoka began before trailing off, she had been elected to the Council two years ago after Quinlan Voss passed in his sleep.

"What is it Ahsoka?" Obi-Wan asked, "If you have something to contribute, then by all means."

Taking a deep breath, she continued, "Do you think… it had anything to do with my family? We live on Onderon, we had just come back from Teth a few hours before the assassination happened. It might be possible that Lux was the target."

"We'll send more knights to keep your family safe," Anakin suggested in concern for his former padawan and his godchildren, "unless you feel the need to return to the Complex."

"I'll bring it up with Lux. I'm leaning toward coming back to Teth."

"A crossguard lightsaber," Aayla Fisto muttered, confused about the somewhat conflicting reports, especially given their neutrality in all matters political they did _not_ have the luxury of up-to-date briefings on all things Republic, "Those haven't been used in over two millennia."

"An interesting style choice, I'll agree" Shaak Ti retorted, "but as to how it affects the matter at hand I fail to see."

"Just a passing thought," Aayla replied, "If they're using sabers that are two thousand years old, then maybe… they're using other structures that are two thousand years old."

"Are you suggesting that the Rule of Two could have been abandoned?" Kit asked his wife.

"Well there have been more than two for years now. Palpatine and his terrorist cell are still at large, and he doubtless has an apprentice by _now_. Gràinne and her new student. That's at least four. "

"Two pairs of rivals," Ahsoka interjected, "They'd never work together. Especially since Gràinne was the one who brought Palpatine to ruin, he'll never agree to work with her."

"And we'll hope that's _all_ there is," Anakin stood to declare this, shutting down the topic immediately. His tone commanded the room and his body language demanded obedience, but his eyes betrayed him. Fear dominated his thoughts of such a nightmare scenario. Especially since the Sith would not see a difference in Reformed and Orthodox Jedi.

"Anakin, we should at least prepare for the worst, to keep our families safe," Obi-Wan chided, "I know your war trauma makes you want to not even consider the possibility of picking up your lightsaber again. We _all_ have that trauma and we all want to live out the rest of our days in peace. But with this recent development, that may not be possible."

Kit cleared his throat, "Especially with _this_ recent development." He projected the headline he had read that morning, _Jedi Order Forms Political Party on Coruscant._ "It seems Windu is starting to move against us and is attempting to drag the Republic into a potential conflict."

Anakin fell to his seat, shaking. "No… not now. Not after we've built so much…"

Serpeness nodded at Poblithes's report, "A single rat in a refuse pit is no great loss," she responded at the news of the candidate's death. "However the Jedi's move is quite interesting. I'll have to contact my agents on Coruscant to enact their phase of the Plan a tad early."

"Yes, Empress," the kneeling Jawa replied, "I am on my way back to Talamh as we speak."

"Good. The fleet will be prepared to launch in a week. I'll expect you will be ready."

"I have been ready for years, Master."

"Excellent, good work Darth Iustitia" she replied. Closing the call she replaced her helmet upon her head, her armor now Baskar plate atop Cortosis chainmail; collected from her debt owed by Mandalore in lieu of a quiet alliance, Duchess Bo Katan had had quite enough dealings with the Sith of old, they were provided with a modest quantity of Baskar armor to protect their members. She and the Dark Council retained entire suits of Baskar while the Lords retained only cuirasses, breath masks, and pauldrons. Her gauntlets included durasteel claws and her mask a filter to protect her from toxic gases and bioweapons, such horrific tools were employed by the Jedi in the past, and she would do anything, pay any price, to protect her people from them now. Glinting in the light as she stepped onto the parapet, she looked over the shoulder of one of her Council, holding her own helmet under her arm and exposing her face to the sun and her troops, overseeing the drills of Sith warriors and their non-Force sensitive soldiers. A red Twi'lek by the name of Vette, but her title was "Darth Desolata."

"Empress Serpeness," Desolata replied, genuflecting before her monarch and instructor. Formerly an orphan sold into slavery to a junk trader for drinking money, Gràinne had found her having to prostitute herself to survive on the streets of Nar Shaddaa. She was a few years her Empress's junior, only having turned 29 a few days ago, she was fanatically loyal to Serpeness's cause and a skilled warrior and Force-user. As such she quickly rose through the ranks to become a member of the Dark Council. She wanted to make sure what happened to her never happened to another little girl again. Not while she still lived.

"How goes the drills?"

"Better than you had expected milady, we will be ready for war at your signal."

"Good. We launch our invasion Monday at dawn. I will have my agents in Coruscant hunt the heretic Palpatine and I will attend to a possible alliance."

"An alliance milady?"

"A planet named Zygeria, are you familiar with it?"

At that name, Desolata stood, "Empress, if I may be so bold, the Zygerians were the ones who sold me into slavery. I beg you _please_ don't ally with them."

"What?" Serpeness questioned in shock. The Zygerians were slavers, and they _dared _to request an alliance with her? Steeling her jaw and grimacing under her mask, Serpeness declared, "Change of plans. We won't go straight for Coruscant, we'll demonstrate our message to the galaxy. Inform the Dark Council, our war plans change. Prepare for an assault on Zygeria.

Smiling in glee and a vengeful glint in her eye, Desolata replied, "At haste, Your Majesty."

"Also, I want you to lead Legion Vitiate at the spearhead of the invasion. This planet's conquest is personal for you. Succeed and you'll be the governor of its sector." Vitiate, composed primarily of Mongol warriors headed by a squadron of nine Sith acolytes or apprentices and a Lord, Lady, or Darth as the commander. Serpeness herself was of course, being the Empress, the supreme commander of all Legions: Vitiate, Nihilus, Revan, Venomous, Tenebrous, Bane, Andeddu, Tyrannus, and her own personal Legion, Plagueis, among others. "I'll see to it the fleet is prepared."

Leaving Desolata to her command, Serpeness patrolled the Academy's outer wall, contacting her Admiral. "Admiral, the fleet is to move out in six days, will you be prepared by then?"

"Anything for ye _a chuisle_," Séamus replied, his snappy, and tight, uniform which his wife may or may not have personally designed serving as armor with Cortosis weave. His helmet an exact replica of his old one except forged of durasteel instead of simple carbon steel.

Gràinne's montrals darkened but was thankfully hidden by her helmet, however her involuntary giggle was not. "Darlin' I thought I told ye to talk professional-like when I wear the helmet."

"I know," Séamus replied with a wink. She wore the helmet during their, _private_ moments semi-often, "And aye, the fleet is ready. Just a few more shipments o' food and we'll be good to go."

"Good."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"_B'fhearr liom tú go céad bó bainne."_

"_Agus b'fhearr liom tú os cionn céad saol."_

Closing the call before the officers and Darth behind her husband snickered any more than they already were. _She_ knew she was a softie for her hubby and baby girl, but nobody else had to know. The Imperial Fleet had been constructed from metals predominantly mined on the planet itself, in addition to droids sent to the asteroid belt and other planets and moons in the system. In only twenty years Talamh had advanced 10,000, and this fact would never cease to amaze her. Serfdom being replaced by droids, the construction of fleets of starships capable of interstellar invasions, Sith Academies teaching five thousand Dark Side practitioners to harness their gifts for the benefit of others. She took a deep breath of the highland air, and watched the trainees sparring or deflecting remote blaster bolts down below.

Leia was helping Owen learn his lightsaber forms while Luminara supervised, sipping her warm tea and petting Leia's cat, Cocaine. Leia activated her blue saber while Owen ignited his yellow. "Ok Owen, so today we'll focus on Soresu. You think you can handle that?"

"Let's go!" the youngling replied. He was skinny, in the extreme, and his skin appeared like that of a typical white human save for a slight green tint and a few black diamond tattoos on his cheeks that revealed his mother's species. His brilliant blue eyes and jet-black hair shone with excitement to practice using his lightsaber with his oldest sister. He always looked up to her and wanted to emulate her as best as he could.

"Ok. I'll set the remotes to a warm-up setting first, to get us loosened up." Punching in the settings she got into a Form III stance, checking to make sure her brother's form was ok. Then the shots started coming. Leia deflected them easily, at this setting she had once literally done it in her sleep when Luke and Shmi tried to prank her. Owen however was struggling. He still managed to block most bolts; his movements were a lot slower than hers, more delayed. When they went up one more setting, the boy was getting shot constantly.

"Are you ok?" Leia asked concerned.

Frustrated he said, "I _know_ when and where the Force tells me to block, my stupid brain and arms won't do it fast enough!"

"Take a break for a few minutes. We'll try again later." Leia reassured him. He was training in the Sentinel school of thought due to being less reliant of physical combat, preferring to use their gifts with computers to gather intelligence or hack into systems, but he still needed to learn to use his blade. His would be a long, difficult road. Looking at her step-mother she quietly said, "I don't know if he can do it, Mom. He doesn't have the motor skills."

"He's been doing better. He just needs more work than a typical youngling," Luminara reassured her. "Just be patient."


	6. Chapter 5: Massacre of Zygeria

King Zash was awaiting the Sith Empress, Zygeria had long been supporters of the Sith who in turn permitted them to run their slave empire unimpeded. Empress Serpeness, who he guessed to be a Togruta or some related subspecies, had told him via holo to expect a visit on this day. Not wanting to offend he had ordered his guards to keep the Togruta slaves hidden away in the kitchens for the day, they could entertain him at a later time. He had prepared a fine banquet, Sith did eat, right? He hadn't asked if her mask could be removed or not. Regardless, he kept a selection of attractive male and female slaves at the banquet to provide eye candy for his guest. Republic law "forbade" slavery, but it hardly went enforced, just made the paperwork, fees, and taxes more irritating in addition to having to go underground outside of Zygeria proper. He took out his watch, an eye on the sky for a Sith ship. What they looked like she hadn't said either but anything that landed at the palace grounds would probably be it. It was almost 1400, when she said she would arrive. He gave the hall one last inspection, his other nobles and prominent slave traffickers would also be attending the banquet, the orchestra was playing slow dance music, including a few pieces from this "Talamh" that the Empress had sent over as a request, and his own royal robes were wrinkle-free, having been pressed by a slave only an hour before. Ah! It was almost time.

Taking out his watch again, he counted the seconds "Three, two, one," and he heard the sound of a ship breaking the sound barrier as it exited hyperspace. Then another. Then another. Looking up, he watched a massive fleet of cylindrical frigates and transports, freighters and fighters, shuttles and random clunkers darken the skies around the capital. His eyes widened in concern; she had never mentioned company! He hoped that the transports were only to bring back a mass purchase. Those hopes were dashed however as soon as the weapons began firing upon the city, decimating the barracks and flak cannons in minutes. Transports landed at various points across the city, the auction houses, the temples, random apartment complexes, the hospitals. A white, somewhat disk-shaped freighter touched down in his palace courtyard as his guests ran about in a panic at the sounds of mass drivers pummeling the cityscape.

"Your Majesty!" his captain of the guard called, dragging him out of his trance, "We have to get you to safety! Now!"

Serpeness lowered the ramp to the _Falcon_, showing herself to the panicking nobles and slavers. Legion Plagueis was on their own mission in another city, but she had come to the capital. After all, she had promised the king a visit. Igniting her darksaber, she walked down the ramp, immediately slicing her way through the crowd. Guards attempted to blast her, but she blocked most of the bolts effortlessly, and those she didn't bother blocking with her blade she picked up Zygerian slavers to be used as living shields. Unleashing a torrent of lightning into two guards, they were almost instantly vaporized. Slicing her way through the nobility, she made her way to the palace.

Darth Desolata's assignment was to liberate the action houses, as she remembered this sector of the city intimately. Her mother was taken from her here, she was sold to a pedophile's prostitution ring here, she was whipped, beaten, starved, and abused here, she had this auction house to blame all the suffering in her life. Burning it to the ground would be her pleasure. Legion Vitiate landed around the complex, lowering their transport ramps and permitting troopers to run into formation, assembling in squares as Zygerian soldiers and refurbished battle droids fired at them. Firing in volleys, their disruptor rifles wiped out the organics against them in minutes, while the Sith deflected blaster fire towards the droids. Desolata led the charge in a blaze of fury, she didn't even need to acknowledge the Empress's order, "Have no mercy, leave no survivors," she planned to do that anyway. Her crimson dual-bladed saber eviscerated Zygerian guards without issue. Looking at her other Sith officers, she ordered "Take the warriors and massacre the clientele, I'll take a squadron to the cages down below."

"Yes Darth!" a Theelin Sith responded, forwarding the order to the men.

Desolata descended the stairs with her soldiers behind her, her ruby blade reflecting her burning yellow eyes. A pathetic barricade blocked their path, which she blasted apart with the Force before dismembering the two soldiers keeping guard at the door. Slicing the door open in an X motion she entered the cages where the slaves were kept. Hundreds of them, and this was only the first room. They were mostly her fellow Twi'leks, many of them women or children. Desolata was shaking, and not just in rage, but in fear, disappointment, disgust. Fear of her memories, disappointment that she couldn't stop this sooner, and with that knowledge she was disgusted with herself even more than she was with the Zygerian slavers. Upstairs she heard the screams of panicked customers, monsters who hoped to buy people yet only guaranteed their own deaths. The slaves she could see in the dimly lit room, what little light there was mostly provided by her weapon, were utterly terrified, of the Zygerians, of their futures as slaves, and now of the Darth before them. With her free hand, she removed her helm, and shouted _"Waja neel! Waja neel!"_ as she slammed it onto the button, opening the cages.

The slaves were shocked, but started crying in joy, "_Waja neel!" _they shouted, repeating the good news, "_Waja neel!"_ They were free! Desolata smirked and looked at her squadron, "Arm the men, get the women and children to safety. I'll deal with the rest of the cages."

"Yes, Darth Desolata!"

Chancellor Sinube had left the funeral of his third cousin a few hours ago. They were never really close given the late Sinube's role as a Jedi Master, but they were relatively well acquainted after the Chancellor entered galactic politics. Supposedly he had died of natural causes, reasonable enough given his advanced age but he still had his doubts. As his motorcade stopped at the Senate, he was greeted by four Senate Commandos running to him at full speed, "Chancellor Sinube!" the commanding officer shouted, "There's an emergency! Zygeria is under attack!"

"Under attack," Sinube repeated in shock, taken completely off-guard. Why would old Separatist holdouts attack a former Separatist planet? How active would Palpatine Loyalists be outside of Coruscant? "By who?"

Serpeness blasted through the door, having massacred the guards. King Zash sat quivering in the corner, defended by only two guards. Immediately strangling them with the Force, not even bothering to lift her hand, she was alone with the monarch. "Zash," she greeted sweetly, "Leaving so soon? I thought you wanted us to have a meeting?"

"What is this?!" Zash shouted, "Some kind of sick display?! A show of strength?! Well you win, call off your attack!"

"Oh slaver," Gràinne replied, her sweet tone quickly turning sadistic, "It's cute that you think I'm planning to spare even a single one of you disgusting parasites." She reached out and dragged him to her, gripping his throat tightly with her hand, Baskar claws digging into the flesh of his neck drawing out a trickle of blood. She walked out of the bunker, the choking former monarch in-tow, "Nothing would please me more than killing you… but that isn't my place." She slowly dragged him up the stairs, she had a special surprise for him indeed. "Your evil is precisely what I want to eradicate in this galaxy. After all, a Sith should always follow their own code, their own morality. Mine, _detests_ slavery." Here it was, opening the door to the kitchens, she threw the Zygerian into the room. Instinctively he tried to scramble away, leading the Empress to shatter his legs with the Force. "As I said, it isn't my place to kill you… it's theirs."

Zash looked up to see a group of his palace slaves, including a few from his harem, standing about him, some with knives, a blaster, a cleaver. Terrified, shaking in fear at what he knew was about to happen, he pleaded with them, tears in his eyes, "Please! Please! No! Have mercy!" The slave girl with the cleaver, his "favorite toy" as he called her, a Togruta no older than 15 and dressed in only the barest minimum to protect her modesty, took her weapon and brought it down onto his arm, severing his hand and beginning an onslaught of vengeful murder by the group of former slaves. Gràinne stood to the side and smiled under her mask as the Zygerian shrieked in pain and terror. She would take his head as a trophy.

_**TWO WEEKS LATER**_

The Republic cruiser _Avenger_ came out of hyperspace at the head of a large convoy of supplies. The Nautolan Jedi Skoolan and his apprentice standing at the bridge, "Padawan," he lectured, "I want to remind you that even though we may not agree with the local culture, but we have to remember that Zygeria is a Republic planet and that they have just suffered a terrorist attack. Republic laws against slavery don't apply here."

"Do we know who did it?"

Skoolan shrugged, "Maybe a band of escaped slaves, Palpatine loyalists, even what's left of Death Watch or Darth Maul's syndicates for whatever reason. We don't know and right now the 'who' isn't important. We need to get these supplies to the regions affected most."

Looking behind her master, the young Twi'lek's eyes widened. Pointing a trembling finger at the viewports her master turned to find not only her Padawan was staring in horror, but the entire bridge crew, including the fleet admiral. Then he finally saw the planet. Almost the entirety of the southern hemisphere was still in flames, fires big and hot enough to be seen from high orbit. Where once were lush jungles now lay charred wasteland, the oceans mostly boiled away save for small regions no longer blue, as the lakes left behind were now red, likely from the destroyed sky. Craters the size of metropolises pocked the surface, scarring the planet below. Whoever was responsible, was clearly _far_ more capable than they had been led to believe.

Eventually coming to a landing near one of the red lakes, the ramps lowered and the Jedi and Republic troopers cautiously stepped out, only to be more horrified at what covered the surface. The lake was not water at all, but blood. A lake of blood formed from the streams bleeding from the forest of impaled corpses that stretched for as far as they could see. The stench of rotting flesh and blood filled their nostrils, a number of the troopers threw off their helmets and began to vomit onto the ground, and the Jedi padawan, never exposed to large-scale violence as she had been but an infant in the last days of the Clone War, fainted at the sight of such wanton brutality, being caught by an equally horrified aid worker. The Admiral contacted Skoolan, "General, we've done a complete scan of the planet…" she informed him, "And… it would appear as though you and the other relief crew are the only non-microbial life currently on the planet."

Jedi General Skoolan's eyes were wide, haunting. He nodded and closed the comms, turning back to the shuttle which had landed them in this hellscape, and made to hobble back. What stopped him was the sight of the other section of impaled bodies, the closest of which had to have been a Zygerian infant. He fell to his hands and knees, too horrified even to scream. What kind of sick monsters were capable of this kind of evil? An outright massacre of an entire planet, men, women, children, and leaving their bodies on display like this. The world spinning around him, he tried to find something to grab onto to keep conscious. Crawling to some kind of platform he grabbed onto one of the poles and hoisted himself up to his feet. Looking at what exactly he was holding onto hoping it wasn't another speared cadaver, he saw the mutilated corpse of the governor of the province, his ribcage broken and the flesh of his back spread out onto his arms like wings, with his lungs sliced open and stretched from armpits to knees, ropes holding him in place between two poles. His heart was ripped out and crammed into his own mouth. Skoolan's psyche could not handle the sight anymore, and like his padawan he too collapsed into the ground.

Waking up a few hours later in the medical bay, he immediately grabbed his commlink and contacted the High Council on Coruscant. "Master Skoolan," Oppo Rancisis greeted him cheerfully, "How is the aid distribution assignment going?" then they saw Skoolan's face. He looked as if he had just seen a ghost.

"The Senate was misinformed," Skoolan barely managed to whisper. "This was not a terror attack… this was genocide."

On Talamh, the now freedmen celebrated with the Imperial troops and Sith Lords on their astounding victory. Children saved from a life of servitude as little more than property, if they were lucky, payed ball with local kids, laughing and cheering for the first time in their memories. Sith Lords and troopers could be seen starting to get rather familiar with a people they rescued before disappearing for a while. Drink, food, and festivities flowed freely in Inverness. All the Sith but one: Gràinne poured over maps of both Talamh and the wider galaxy. She'd have to find at least temporary lodging for those former slaves who wished to stay, language classes for them in most regions of the planet, a network to try and find lost family members, if any were Force-sensitive then they would be offered the chance to train as a Sith, and that wasn't factoring her own problems with her daughter.

Why was Aislinn so stubborn?! Did she not see all the good that being a Sith could do? Was she willfully ignoring all the people they've freed? Did she want to die that badly? She had begged her daughter to at least let her use her own knowledge to treat her illness even if she didn't want to learn the Dark Arts herself, and every time she was refused. Gràinne rested her forehead into her fingers and tried to massage her aching head. Pouring herself a shot of whiskey, she tossed it back and let the woody flavor fill dance across her tongue, gulping it down to feel the burn in her chest as the alcohol made its way into her stomach. She shook her head as she slammed down the glass. She would _not_ allow herself to fail as a mother… not like she failed as a daughter. She still had nightmares about her parents' deaths. She was powerless to stop it. Sometimes the Force decided to torment her with visions of her biological parents being slaughtered in addition to her adoptive ones. Twice she had been unable to stop her family from being destroyed. She would not allow it to happen a third time. She couldn't allow it a third time.


	7. Chapter 6: Dawn of Darkness

Serpeness had spent months pouring over her scrolls, texts, and holocrons, or deep in meditation trying to focus the Dark Side, hone it to her desires. Despite her late master's initial insistence that learning the secrets of Plagueis would be possible, they had never done it within his lifetime. It was sadly one of the only things Sidious had never bothered to teach him, having never considered him a true apprentice, if _he_ even knew. Likely when he killed his master he did not know as much as he thought he did, rendering the secret to creating and preserving life being lost forever, meaning that Aislinn had to be _healed_ not resurrected. Unfortunately all her Dark Side knowledge came up equally blank in that regard as well. She couldn't give up now, not while Aislinn's health deteriorated more rapidly by the day. The flickering yellow candlelight reflecting her own yellow eyes, every darkened vein in her face and lekku only semi-hidden by the shadows. A knock at the door. She was not wearing her armor, opting instead for a loose, red and black robe, she could sense her husband. "Enter."

He opened the door and stepped inside, closing it behind him. He placed a hand on her shoulder, "She's getting worse."

Gràinne reached up and held his hand, choking back tears, "I know," was all she could say.

The news of Zygeria's recent genocide had rocked the galaxy to its core. An unknown force completely exterminated the Zygerian species in a few days and wiped out all life in the system with brutality not even the most sadistic warlords had ever employed. Not even the primordial Rakata had been so sadistic, at least their planetary massacres were over quickly. It was supposed by forensic researchers, now traumatized, that most of the corpses were impaled while still alive, still screaming, still thrashing. Coruscant's Jedi Order had publicly decried the attack and vowed to destroy whatever threat was capable of such violence. Representative Hera Syndulla of Ryloth had publicly expressed horror, yet in private thanked whatever gods were listening for the destruction of those tyrants and how her people would be safe from slave raids, at least by one faction of maniacs. The Jedi Order on Teth, however, remained silent.

"Anakin," Obi-Wan tried to reason with his old padawan, enlisting the help of his former student's wife, "I know why you hated the Zygerians, but this… this is an atrocity."

"We aren't getting involved. That's one of the reasons we broke away from Coruscant, we didn't want to fight the political battles anymore."

"Ani," Luminara begged, "this isn't a political battle, this is a moral one. Children were massacred. _Children_."

"Lumi," Anakin replied, nearly breaking down, "I just can't. Not after Palpatine. Not after that damned war. I _can't_."

"We aren't saying you need to go into battle and lead armies of clones again Anakin," Obi-Wan replied, trying to calm him, "Nor are we saying we should rejoin the Orthodox Order, Force knows _none_ of us want that."

"But surely, we have to try and help to at least find out who or what is responsible," Luminara finished, gripping her husband's organic hand tightly.

Returning the squeeze, he raised Luminara's hand to his lips and kissed her fingers, acquiescing, "Alright. Assemble the Council and we'll determine what to do."

Ahsoka was sitting quietly in her seat, her fist balled and covering her lips as the Council deliberated a course of action. The Fistos recommended launching an independent mission to discover the culprits, while Obi-Wan offered a joint operation with the Coruscant Jedi, not a reunification by any stretch of the imagination. Shaak Ti and Anakin immediately shot him down. Plo Koon said nothing but stared at Ahsoka intently. Through their Force bond he projected, _"You have something to say don't you."_

"_Yes, Master Plo."_

"_Say it for all of us to hear."_

Nodding, she called out, "I think I have an idea of who is responsible," the room quieted down, "With the timing of the Onderon candidate's assassination and the Zygeria Massacre being so close together, this can't be a coincidence. I think… I think Gràinne's new Sith might be behind it."

"Why though?" Luminara questioned, "The Sith and the Zygerians were allies for millennia before the former was driven into the shadows."

"I don't know, Master. I don't know. But… I think our nightmare scenario is finally come to fruition."

Barriss held her wife closely. Riyo's last term in the Senate was well over a decade ago, and the pair lived relatively happily on Teth for most of the year, a vacation home on both of their respective homeworlds. Jinn was practicing against remotes again. He had been slowly improving since their last talk, and the Zygeria massacre had prompted hm to take his lightsaber and physical training far more seriously. She lightly kissed Riyo's head and stood, walking over towards Jinn and deactivating the remotes. "You're doing much better than before. I only wish it were under better circumstances."

Deactivating his saber, Jinn bowed, "Thank you Master, and the feeling is mutual."

Barriss paused for a moment, considering her words carefully, "What do you think would happen if you were to face a Sith?"

Jinn's eyes went wide, "L-like right now?!" He would be dead before he could blink.

Barriss nodded.

"I wouldn't stand a chance!"

"Well then let's put the remotes away for the time being. Sith won't fight with blasters, after all. Let's practice sparring," Barriss suggested, grabbing her lightsaber off her belt. She could have called Petro to come help teach Jinn some of his lightsaber techniques, his was a rather unique blend of Forms V and III, but he was off planet at the moment on a job, part of some trillionaire's security detail for an event. Igniting her blade, she saluted Jinn, who activated his and returned the salute. Taking the initiative, she swung at Jinn, who managed to parry her easily enough, but when he tried to return the slash me missed completely, with his master dancing around his blade and sliced at him. Jinn successfully dodged but knew that his Master was going extremely easy on him. He had seen holovids of her in combat, and how she was like a whirlwind in her soldier days. Here she was slow, methodical, almost toying with him, poking at his defenses to see what he needed to improve upon. Jinn saw an opportunity and kicked out his master's legs from underneath her, taking her by surprise, and brought his saber down towards her, which Barriss blocked effortlessly. Still, she smiled. He was learning to read his opponents. Had she purposefully left herself open? Yes, but he hardly had to know that.

Mina and Leia were having lunch at a small café in Inner Teth while the Council deliberated the Zygeria Genocide. Their lightsabers were clearly visible, but the staff and other patrons were quite used to the sight. The establishment had been frequented by the local Jedi for years, the small establishment had catered and even hosted a few Jedi weddings. The elderly couple who owned the establishment were the sweetest people imaginable as well, which doubtless attracted a lot of their Jedi clientele in the first place, and the food, although simplistic and quaint, was absolutely delicious.

"What do you think they'll do?" Leia questioned, taking a bit of the flatbread and dipping it into the bean paste.

"I don't know, I mean we wouldn't just sit back and do nothing, right?"

"You don't know my dad," Leia replied, looking around and whispering, "he absolutely _hates_ Zygerians."

"What? Why?"

"I don't know, Uncle Obi said it was about some childhood trauma."

"Has Anakin ever talked about his childhood?" Mina inquired.

"Only to say he won't talk about it."

"Well, I'm sure even if he doesn't want to get involved, he'll be outvoted. Mom's not a fan of Zygerians either but she wouldn't just sit back and watch genocides happen." Mina took a sip of her drink, "Let's talk about something else."

"Like?"

"Anything, literally anything would be better than this."

Slyly smirking, Leia asked, "Ok, are you and Jinn a thing?"

"Let's go back to the genocide."

Leia would have laughed if she wouldn't sound like a deranged lunatic with that kind of punchline. "I'm serious. Everybody's talking about it…"

"We're just friends," Mina clarified, quickly looking back down at her nerfchops and hoping Leia wouldn't detect the slightest hint of disappointment in her voice.

"With benefits?"

"LEIA!" Mina practically screamed, getting the attention of a few other patrons. Lowering her voice back down to a whisper, she added, "I am _not_ sleeping with your brother!" She kind of wanted to if she was being honest with herself, but she was not going to say that aloud.

Leia rolled her eyes, "Sheesh, you're so defensive I'd almost think you were a _Coruscant_ Jedi."

"Speaking of them!" Mina interrupted, hoping to change the topic, "I heard they were going officially political now."

"Good thing our parents got out while they could. I mean, can you imagine _Dad_ being in the Senate? He'd probably kill somebody," Leia chuckled, "But you aren't getting out of this so easily. I want you to tell me, honestly, what is it with you and Jinn?"

"There's nothing going on between us!"

"I've seen the way you flirt with him."

"I flirt with everyone. Master Fisto, Master Plo, Petro, your dad, hell, even _you_ sometimes."

"It's different."

"How?"

Leia shrugged, not really knowing how to describe it, "I don't know, it just, comes off differently, I guess. More… intense."

"Intense?"

"You're a _lot_ more suggestive when you flirt with Jinn than you are with anybody like Dad."

"Well duh, doing that with my best friend's _dad_ would be gross."

"You know what I mean."

Mina sighed, finally acquiescing slightly, "Fine… I have… toyed with the idea, of going out with Jinn. But we've never done anything and I mean, we've grown up together since I was born; he's practically _my_ brother as much as he is yours. I mean, imagine how weird and gross it'd be if _you_ made out with him!"

"Nope! Don't put that image in my head! No! Eww, eww, eww, eww, eww!" Leia protested, shaking her head so violently her hair buns almost became undone.

"Exactly!"

"But he's not your _actual_ brother. Besides, you know he feels the same way about you."

"Does he?"

"Come on, you may take after Ahsoka in a lot of ways, but her social obliviousness is not one of them. You've seen how he looks at you."

"Hey ,my mom isn't socially oblivious," Mina protested half-heartedly, her smirk showing she knew she was wrong and just wanted to argue.

"Aunt Ahsoka's a complete ditz at Uncle Lux's parties."

"Well ok, but to be fair they don't give too much training on how to tell if somebody's into you on Coruscant if what Mom told me is true."

Leia chuckled, "Want me to help you make the first move?"

"I think I've got it," Mina countered, "But I'll keep that offer in mind. Thanks."

Grand Master Windu had given another press conference decrying the massacre at Zygeria and vowing to enact justice on the monsters responsible. Jedi resources were spread thin trying to hunt down the attackers, who had doubtless used this as a demonstration of their plans for the Republic entire. He had had his suspicions about the "Reformist Jedi" for over twenty years and while he definitely had not grown fond of them over the years, their obsession with attachment and emotions practically made them Sith in his eyes, he doubted they were capable of such large-scale operations, not yet at least. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that Skywalker would at least _want_ to do something of this scale. Have their intelligence reports been wrong? He would personally lead an expedition to wipe out those heretics on Teth, they had been allowed to exist for far too long and this was the final straw.

Heading into the Council Chambers, he saw a hologram of his old, no, former, friend Kit Fisto. "Mace," he nodded curtly.

"Kit," Windu returned in a grumble.

"I know where your mind is going. We can sense it even on the other side of the galaxy. We aren't responsible, but we are willing to extend a hand of peace, work together to find out who is behind this."

"We don't need or want your help," Mace spat venomously at Kit. This traitor, this apostate, this wannabe Sith Lord was asking _him _for friendship? That was never going to happen.

Kit looked down in disappointment, "I'm sorry old friend, then all I can ask is that you don't interfere with us working towards protecting the galaxy, same as you."

"If you do anything then we will consider it an obstruction of Jedi affairs."

"These aren't _Jedi_ affairs anymore Mace. An entire civilization was wiped out in a day. This is for the benefit of the galaxy as a whole, not just our own egos! Why can't you see that!"

"The Jedi, the Jedi _you left_, serve the Republic. Galactic affairs _are_ Jedi affairs."

"You won't stop us Mace. We will make sure we can defend those who can't defend themselves, and we will defend our families."

"I'd like to see you try."

"Are you threatening us Master Windu?"

"I have been threatening you for twenty years, _old friend_. Now, the time for threats is over. If your splinter cell makes moves to become active outside of the Teth system, we will hunt you down to the last. Just like every schismatic and Dark Sider before you." Windu closed the transmission after that. He knew Kit, and he knew Skywalker. They would make moves just to test him, and they would unleash hell upon themselves, just like the first Sith.

Serpeness had kept her daughter under constant watch, getting hourly reports on her status, and had even forced her back to Inverness to keep a closer eye on her personally. Now she meditated. She had to try and see what could be done to save her child. She had to find Palpatine and she had to force him to teach her the secrets of Plagueis. She closed her eyes and went into a trance. She hated meditation, she had once loved it, being able to focus on what had brought her joy and laughter: her husband, her daughter's first word (despite her own disappointment when it was "Dada"), her first steps, being permitted to take Poblithes as a full apprentice and being proclaimed a full Sith by her master, Poblithes being proclaimed Darth Iustitia. None of that mattered now, she had to focus on her suffering; her fear of losing her only child, her anger at herself for being powerless to stop it. She had to fine-tune her pain into something useful.

"Master," she called into the darkness, opening her eyes to see the red, ashen, ghostly visage of the late Emperor Dooku.

"Serpeness," he replied in kind, "Still searching for the secrets of Darth Plagueis, I see."

"I will search for the rest of my life if it means I can save my daughter."

Dooku's phantom smiled sadly, he remembered Aislinn, she was such a bright child, brought laughter and joy to everyone she met.

"Please, Master. You know what I need."

"You need help finding Sidious…" he remarked.

"You said yourself he knew the secret but refused to teach it to you, lest you overthrow him."

"If you are to combat Sidious, be cautious. You don't know the beginning of what he is capable of."

"Of course, Master. I just need help in finding him. My spies are turning up empty-handed,"

"If they return at all," Dooku interrupted.

"Yes, Master."

Dooku looked to the ground in thought. "Even as being one with the Dark Side, I cannot peer into the location of Sidious. His power is far too great… but there is another. He may yet hold the key."

"Who is this man?"

"Darth Hydria. Seek him out on Naboo. They shared a home planet and were both under the tutelage of Plagueis, what he does know I cannot see. What he _may_ know, is everything you seek. Reach out into the Force, find him. When he outlives his usefulness, kill him and take his power as your own."

"Yes, my Master," Serpeness replied obediently, coming out of her trance. Standing, she put her armor back on and opened the door to her chambers. Paging an acolyte she ordered, "Prepare the _Falcon_, I need to make a trip to Naboo."


	8. Chapter 7: Duel of the Valkyrie

Jar-Jar Binks juggled the fruit in his hands. After the Palpatine incident he had been relegated to a common street clown. Few respected him anymore, but that was irrelevant. After all, he knew that he would be relegated to the shadows once again whether Palpatine had succeeded or not but knowing that the false heir to Plagueis had failed gave him an immeasurable amount of joy, so much so that he was willing to stomach even this humiliation. His apprentice, a human male of about 20 years, stood in the mostly jeering crowd. Yes, Jar-Jar was down, humiliated, but not yet defeated. Soon he would ascend to be the one true Lord of the Sith. All the Galaxy would know and quake before the wrath of Darth-

"Hydria!" a female voice shouted, followed by the sound of her darksaber. Panic spread in the crowd and the almost all of the people fled, others turned over market stalls to try and watch from relative safety. Jar-Jar saw a woman in full Baskar armor, yet not Mandalorian, no it was stylized after ancient Sith armor, the Stalkers to be precise. From the shape of her helmet he could tell she was a Togruta. The fruit he had been juggling fell onto the ground about him, save for one which splatted on his head. Whoever this woman was, she was _enraged_. He could sense it, and a twinge of… fear? She was right to fear him, but no. It wasn't fear of _him_, it was a fear of… loss. Jar-Jar narrowed his eyes.

"Whossa you being?" Jar-Jar demanded, attempting to maintain his disguise in case he could persuade her that he was not the Sith she sought after, but still hiding a commanding undertone. How could she have possibly known his true title? "Meesa no know youssa."

"Hydria, I don't have all day," the woman demanded, "Tell me what I want, _right now_, or I will gut you like a _fish_."

Jar-Jar, Darth Hydria, glanced about him in a panic, giving a quiet signal to his apprentice to dispatch this threat.

Ever obedient, the young man leapt to the defense of his dark master, igniting his burgundy blade. However, this mystery Togruta was clearly not in the mood for games, as she dispatched him in three swipes, not even pausing her stride. Pebbles and random street debris levitated about her, and Hydria could feel her Dark energy flowing, nay, _flooding_ from her, her fury positively seething. Now he had no choice, he unveiled his own weapon, hidden in his sleeve, and ignited his lightsaber. Taking a defensive stance as the woman immediately waylaid him with a flurry of furious blows, of which he of course parried and blocked every single one. How long had it been since he had last been in a duel? Training his apprentice hardly counted as a real fight, not yet at least. "Ah, what fun! I finally get to drop the mantle of 'imbecile' and face a true opponent!" He returned her assault blow for blow, herself proving not only a capable warrior, but a veritable master of Makashi. Leaping to get behind her, he went for a backstab only to be blocked by an over-the shoulder parry before she whirled around to face him. Hydria swapped from Form V Ataru to Form VII Juyo, slashing madly at his opponent. He was only playing with her until now, but upon seeing how capable she was he recognized the need to actually put forth effort to defeat her. Catching him off guard she managed to blast him back with the Force, throwing him across the town square. He landed quite safely upon his feet, springing back up to parry her next flurry of blows. However, what the mystery woman actually did caught him off-guard, as she began hurling the market stalls at him with the Force, not reaching out her arms physically in order to do so. _"Impressive," _he thought as he dodged fruit carts, _"Most impressive._" Hydria took his opportunity and blasted her with lightning, his a sickly yellow, which the attacker caught in her hand before returning her own vicious red. Blocking it with his lightsaber, Hydria reached out and picked up a turned over stall and flung it at her, which she replied by bisecting the cart as it went right past.

Now he was annoyed, "Who are you?!" he demanded, charging into a downward slash.

"I…" the woman grunted, "am…" she was struggling, good, at least she was until she broke the saber lock and threw Hydria back, yelling "Darth Serpeness!"

Hydria landed in a squatted position, left hand helping to support him, lifting his head towards her, the Gungun Sith retorted, "So the pretender of Plagueis sends his new pet to dispatch of the Dark Lord's true heir? Pathetic!" Sending a massive Force Push her way, she jumped out of the way and brought her blade crashing down and would have easily bisected him if he had not _just_ managed to black the incoming assault, throwing her back behind him. Whirling to face her again as she twirled around to hack at Hydria once more. Her rage pouring from her like water from a broken dam. As the pair locked blades again, Serpeness took her right hand and slashed at the Sith with her Baskar claws, tearing flesh from his ribcage. Hydria screamed from the searing pain, but only for a moment. He let it power him, prepare him for a renewed assault. Breaking the lock he slashed towards her, which she parried into a counterstrike. Pushing her three meters away so as to gather his bearings, Hydria pounded against his wound, blood dripping onto the cobblestone road. With a quick jerk of his left arm, his second lightsaber was revealed. The pair of black-hilted sabers glowing blood red in the reflection of the fountain behind him, lightly saturating Hydria's form even in broad daylight. Twirling his blades round he slashed at the ground as he charged at Serpeness, this apparent apprentice to his pretender. He jumped towards her, one blade slashing skywards and the other crashing down. Serpeness managed to catch the ascending blade with her own, forcing it to the ground to the left of her, as she grabbed Hydria's wrist with her right hand. Using her strength, accented only slightly with the Force, she snapped Hydria's forearm in two, forcing him to drop his saber as she clawed the muscles in his forearm cleanly away. She simultaneously slashed upwards, severing his dominant right hand.

Hydria screeched in fury as his broken hands fell to the ground, his arms little more than stumps, one smoldering and the other bleeding profusely. _"I am no apprentice!" _Serpeness yelled, grabbing two speeders with the Force and bringing them crashing into one another, sandwiching Hydria betwixt them. As the Gungun coughed blood, she shouted "I… am… your… EMPRESS!" Serpeness grabbed him by the throat, "And you will submit to me," she commanded. Peering into his mind with the Force, she looked in every crevice of that dark, twisted mind. Forcing his master's teachings to the forefront. She didn't care that she was completely shredding Hydria's brain, all that mattered was Plagueis or Sidious. At this point, she cared little _who_ she was pointed towards, only where to go, or what to do. She peered into the mind of Darth Hydria, hidden so long behind the idiotic mask of Jar-Jar Binks. So much wanton torture, so much subtle manipulation, he had all manners of Sith sorcery and mastery of the Dark Side, but he didn't have what she required. He didn't have PLAGEUIS! In blind fury, she took control of him, completely dominated this broken "Dark Lord" and forced him to service her, their combined strength peering through the clouded shadows Sidious had formed for himself… of course he was _there_. Dropping the pathetic Gungun at her feet, his mind completely obliterated from her onslaught, she reignited her darksaber and with a single clean swipe, she drained him of his life force and left him there, a withered husk upon the street.

Ahsoka watched with absolute horror the power and rage of her sibling, with more than a little confusion as to how Jar-Jar had apparently been a Sith Lord as well, or at least had enough Dark Side training to hold his own against a fully trained Sith for a few minutes. They all did, the entirety of the Council watched the now public security footage on the holonet again and again as the reporters did their best to represent what was going on. Anakin stroked his beard in tandem with Obi-Wan finally muttering, "She told him 'I am your Empress.' That has to mean she has forces elsewhere in the galaxy."

"A new Sith Empire, completely hidden from us," Obi-Wan responded, "How could we have been so blind?"

Mace Windu and three other Council Members marched towards the office of the new Senator of Naboo, followed by a squadron of Senate Commandos. They were well-prepared for a serious fight on their hands should their suspicions come to fruition. Opening the door to his office, they found him enjoying tea with the young Queen of the planet.

"Ah! Master Windu!" he greeted cheerfully, "What a pleasant surprise! Would you care for some tea as well?"

Windu and his Jedi entourage ignited their blades, "In the name of the Senate of the Galactic Republic, you are under arrest."

"W-What?! Why?!"

"For suspicion of anti-Republic activities and for possible affiliation with former Chancellor Palpatine."

"Just suspicion?!"

"That is all we need," Windu answered.

"Not yet it isn't! I'm calling my lawyer right now!" his hand reached for the drawer where he kept his commlink hesitating when he heard the clicking of the Commandos' blaster rifles. "You have no evidence; this arrest is illegal!"

"We'll make it legal," Windu retorted.

"Put your hands behind your head!" ordered a Commando, "On your knees and hands behind your head! NOW!"

Doing exactly as he was told, the Senator demanded, "I will speak to my lawyer the second I get the chance! You have no right to arrest me on suspicions alone! What even caused the suspicion?!"

"Your planet has an unhealthy habit of hiding Sith Lords," Master Coleman answered curtly.

"THAT'S IT?!" the Senator shouted. It was enough to prompt a particularly jumpy Commando to fire upon the man, then another shot, and another. Soon enough the entire squadron they had brought with them opened fire on the unarmed Senator, even injuring the Queen in the process. The Jedi would definitely take a slight PR hit from this move.


	9. Chapter 8: Fallen Order

On Teth, Ahsoka had finally gotten little Anakin Bonteri to bed. Had she been that hyper and obstinate as a kid? She rolled her eyes at herself; who was she kidding, she was that stubborn and energetic _now_. Lux kissed her as she turned out the light in their youngest son's room. Breaking the kiss, she smiled as they pressed their noses together. They had been having talks about having another baby while they still could, of course finding the time to not be interrupted by the kids they already had was a struggle.

"Coming to bed, baby?" Lux asked.

"In a minute. I've got a few things on my mind."

"Such as?"

"Well… Gràinne," Ahsoka replied.

"Oh." Lux was not a fan of his sister-in-law and had the one testicle and slight limp to show why. "Alright, but don't trouble yourself too much over it. Windu already threatened to wipe us out if we did anything."

"Windu is an idiot," Ahsoka argued, trying to keep her snipping at a whisper since her son was still in earshot.

"I'm not saying he isn't," Lux countered calmly, "but he is a very _powerful_ idiot. If he sees the need to extend an olive branch then he will, but if he can wipe out your sister's Empire without help then that's even better."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Ahsoka admitted.

"Babe, what is it really? You can tell me."

"I know I can, it's just… well to be honest I'm not really sure myself. I'm going to meditate for a little bit, don't wait up."

"So… no baby-making tonight?"

Ahsoka rolled her eyes at her husband. As suave as he typically was, he could also be really blunt. "Maybe." She would be downstairs in her meditation room for at least an hour, "Depends on if you can stay awake for me," she added with a wink. Descending the stairs, making sure she swayed her hips temptingly as she did so, she made her way to meditate. She could feel something, or someone, reaching out to her, she needed answers and she needed them now. Sitting cross-legged in the floor on a semi-soft mat on the floor, Ahsoka closed her eyes and reached out into the Force, trying to have the Light shine in the darkness, have some kind of answers revealed. Plunging into the Light Side, she surrendered herself totally to its will.

On Talamh, Gràinne sat next to her now bed-ridden child, holding her hand, her own having a few bite marks from where her daughter had not recognized her own mother and thought she was a threat. Aislinn had been collapsing if she so much as stood, her memory was fading fast, and all her mother could do was watch. Aislinn barely ever recognized her anymore. Hydria's secrets had been all but pointless, but his power had somewhat helped her. She knew where Sidious was hiding. The only question was how to break into the stronghold he had taken shelter within. She had to go meditate before she broke down into tears again. She couldn't bear to watch this anymore. Sitting on her knees on the stone floor in her bedchamber, she closed her eyes, calling to the Darkness, forcing it to bend to her will, to provide some answer as to how she could finally heal her baby. She plunged into the Dark Side to give her strength, to give her answers. Reaching out into the Force, she grasped at anything, any semblance of what she sought, anything, even-

"Sister," Gràinne called, seeing her sibling's visage in the Force.

Ahsoka's eyes snapped open, whirling to her feet and igniting her sabers. "Gràinne," she snarled. The longer she looked at her sibling the more she wanted to hack her to bits. Her dark twin sensed her anger.

"Ahsoka… I need your help."

"I will _never_ help _you._"

"It isn't for me," Gràinne took a deep breath and swallowed her pride, "It's for your niece."

"Niece?"

"My daughter. She's dying. We can't find a cause and I'm doing everything I can to find a way to save her."

Ahsoka lowered her blades slightly and looked to the side, "How old is she?"

"Nineteen," Gràinne answered. A year older than Mina.

"What's her name."

"Aislinn."

Ahsoka lowered her blades, still ignited, and stood at relative ease. Her first had not been the only pregnancy she had lost, far from it. She knew the pain of losing a child. Shaking her head, memories of her sister's crimes coming back, "No!" she shouted, "Genocide is _never_ excusable. Not even to save your own daughter!"

"That was deserved justice. They enslaved many of my people, I feel no remorse for giving them what they deserved."

"Then you are much of a monster as they were."

"Yes," Gràinne agreed, still in her kneeling position, "I know I am. I don't care, so long as I can prevent anyone else from being enslaved. And I'm willing to do it a thousand times over if it means I can help not only my daughter but _millions_ of others evade death."

"I won't help you."

"Not even to destroy our mutual enemy? Sheev Palpatine?"

Ahsoka was taken aback for a moment but steeled her gaze again, "What could you possibly know about him? Besides, you're a Sith. If you want to kill him you should do it yourself. That's your way, isn't it?"

"I can kill him myself, that isn't the problem."

"Then what is?" Ahsoka interrupted.

"I cannot get inside the Jedi Temple to do so."

"W-what?"

"Palpatine has taken refuge in the Sith Shrine the Temple was built on top of. The same Dark Nexus which awakened me. I can capture Palpatine or kill him. That is no issue, but I can't sneak into the Jedi Temple to do so."

Ahsoka shook her head, "No. You lie."

"It is where I have found him to be. He has been gathering his followers underneath the Temple for decades and is almost ready to strike at your precious Republic, right from under your own Temple." Gràinne stood and walked around her sibling, gazing at her old sword, hanging on the wall. "You kept it."

"Only because Master Kenobi told me to," Ahsoka snapped, "and there is no way in Hell I will _ever_ help a Sith get into the Temple, even if it isn't mine anymore."

"Oh yes, my spies have told me about your little falling out. Half the order is at the ready to slaughter the other, the half that is making the same moves as Palpatine, but far more publicly than he."

"Go. Away."

Sighing in disappointment, Gràinne lifted her face to meet her sister's, yellow eyes staring into Ahsoka's blue. "I had hoped we could have been allies."

"Never."

"Can you at least do me one favor?"

"What?"

"Tell your friend I'm sorry."

"What?"

"The green one, I forget her name… she saved my husband from death. She gave me my daughter. For that I will always be grateful."

"I…" Ahsoka stopped, wanting to snap at her, wanting to wring her sister's neck from across the galaxy for everything she did all those years ago, everything she did a few days ago, "I'll pass the message along to Barriss and her wife."

"Thank you."

Turning away Ahsoka gathered her thoughts, "But I can't-" Gràinne was gone, and with her, her old sword.

To say the Naboo were infuriated was an understatement. Not only had their Senator just been murdered by Senate Commandos in an illegal arrest led by the Jedi Party, but their Queen, a child, had died in the hospital a few days later from her injuries. Add to that a Dark Jedi ransacking Theed city centre in a duel with their former representative, whom she left dead in the middle of the street, and Anti-Jedi and Anti-Republic riots rocked the planet and Naboo enclaves across the galaxy, with protestors going so far as to hang and burn effigies of Chancellor Sinube and Master Windu. The Naboo system and any area on Coruscant with a strong Naboo cultural presence was a no-go zone for Force-Sensitives. Windu sat in Chancellor Sinube's office to discuss the matter.

"What we are dealing with is the result of your blatant misuse of power!" Sinube shouted, trying to break through the stubborn Jedi's thick skull.

"What we are dealing with is Neo-Separatist sympathies," Windu countered. He knew well enough where this was going, "Our arrest was completely legal."

"Only as of five hours _after_ going to do it!" Sinube shouted back, "And that's not even getting into the fact that you _shot_ an _unarmed_ _Senator,_ and their _Queen_! And not just any Queen, a _little girl!_"

"He resisted arrest; the Commandos are authorized to use lethal force if they see necessary."

"On the child as well?!"

"She was an unfortunate casualty, caught in the cross-fire."

"Are you Jedi not sworn to defend the Republic? Not sworn to defend its people?!"

"We are sworn to defend the Republic from any threat, and I do mean _any_ threat. If these Neo-Separatists don't calm themselves, then Naboo will be seen as a threat to Republic stability."

"You can't be serious!"

"I am not a joking man," Windu replied, his eyes narrowed, "As per the repeals of the Ruusan Reformation, we are fully authorized to take full control of the Republic military should we see the need-"

"But only with the express permission of the Senate! Until then _I_ am Supreme Commander of the GAR! And unless you fancy 'Order 66' slipping out of my mouth I suggest you cease your power-grab at once!"

"'With the express permission of the Senate,'" Windu repeated, "Yes, but that does _not_ mean we are obligated to ignore the sparks of another civil war, and there is no Sith Lord in control of both sides to ensure Republic victory this time… unless you have a confession to make."

"What are you insinuating?"

"I insinuate nothing. I sense a darkness in this room."

"And if the 'darkness,' is you?" Sinube challenged, getting into the Jedi Grand Master's face, "And you are too blind, or conceited, to realize it?"

"Impossible. A Jedi would know such things."

"Like how the Jedi 'would know such things' as Palpatine's evil sitting a meter in front of him?"

"This conversation is over," Windu declared with finality. Standing he reiterated, "We were well within our legal rights and we will _not_ apologize for the misplaced shots of a few Commandos."

As Windu turned to walk out of the Chancellor's office Sinube shouted "This isn't over! Jedi! In his final days my cousin was _ashamed_ that he was ever inducted into your cult!" The door swished shut behind Windu, leaving Chancellor Sinube seething.


	10. Chapter 9: The Moves Made to Change Fate

Mace Windu had been scouring through Senate documents in his office. While still the Jedi Grand Master he was also the representative of the Jedi Order in the Senate and the head of the Galactic Jedi Party and thus had access to many classified documents save for those reserved for only the Chancellor himself, but with just a minor bit of finagling of the codes he could see even these. While he had been looking for evidence of Neo-Separatist or Palpatine Loyalist activity in the Senate so as to strong-arm through another Senate Purge, which he had found a few Senators in the Palpa-cult, and he had already given orders for their arrest. Their very presence in the government was an affront to Jedi interests, and thus Republic interests. However that wasn't what had really gotten his attention. Clacking away at the keys to break into the funding sector to see if any funds were being syphoned to fund Palpatine-oriented projects, he did notice an old entry:

_DS-1 BATTLESTATION: [STATUS]….UNFINISHED…...POSTPONED_INDEFINATELY_

"DS-1 Battlestation?" he muttered curiously. Going in to check status of this apparent secret project, he noticed the date, during Palpatine's term as chancellor, no doubt a Sith plot to take over the galaxy.

_DS-1 BATTLESTATION: Project_enactment-Chancellor Sheev Palpatine…Project_cancellation-Chancellor Padmé Skywalker…Current_Budget:22,000,000,000_

What battlestation could possibly cost 22 trillion credits? What was Palpatine planning? There was an upload of the schematics but he was no engineer. Still, it couldn't hurt to at least try to gain an understanding. Pulling up a holoprojection of the vessel, a spherical space station approximately the size of one of Coruscant's moons, powered by millions of kyber crystals focused around a dish. It was a planet killer. The red light of the hologram shone the words:

_ULTIMATE WEAPON PROJECT MK.1 _

Continuing his investigation Windu opened the locator for the space station in order to find this "Ultimate Weapon" and see to its destruction. If it were still to float in space it would be found by enemies of the Republic and used to wreak terror across the galaxy.

_LOCATION…[REDACTED] _

Barriss woke to the sound of her commlink beeping. Rubbing the sleep away from her eyes, she semi-blindly reached for it in the dark, flopping her hand about on her night table until she found it. Taking the call, she yawned and asked, "Yeah?"

"Barriss! I need to talk to you," Ahsoka asked. She sounded panicked, almost scared.]

"Can it wait just a few hours?"

"NOW."

"Ok, let me grab my glasses," Barriss muttered. Her eyesight had never been perfect but for the past twelve years now she actively needed correctional lenses. She could have worn contacts or even gotten laser surgery to fix the problem but Riyo thought she looked cute with glasses so she stuck with the ancient traditional lenses.

At the noise, Riyo had finally stirred awake, "Babe? What's going on?"

"I don't know. Where are my glasses?"

"My side," Riyo answered, handing the black frames to her wife.

"Why are they on your side?"

"Half of your clothes are on my side."

"Oh right."

"Nice to know I made an impression."

"Babe, I'm half-asleep. I can barely remember my name right now."

Ahsoka couldn't help but roll her eyes, not that she was in a place to judge, after all she and Lux had been planning on doing just that a few hours ago. "_Ahem,"_ she interrupted, "Kind of an emergency call here Barriss."

"What happened?"

"Gràinne happened."

_Now_ the pair were awake. "Ahsoka… what do you mean '_Gràinne happened?'_ Is she here?!"

"No, well, I… I don't _think _so. We managed to communicate through the Force, like we can, but it was. It was _more_. It was like she was actually here…"

"Are you sure it wasn't just a freaky dream? She's been on all our minds lately."

"She took her sword," Ahsoka answered with finality.

"What?" was all Riyo could whisper.

"I'm in a complete fluster right now trying to figure out what's going on."

"What did she want?" Barriss asked. "Was she trying to turn you Dark?"

"No… I don't think she was. She said she needed my help, that Palpatine was hiding in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant and she needed my help to get inside. Her daughter is dying and she thinks he can save her if he tortures whatever she needs out of him."

"We need to tell the Council!"

"For what, Barriss? What can we do? Windu already threatened to destroy us if we left Teth or got involved."

"Windu can go to Hell! We're talking about the woman who just massacred Zygeria invading _Coruscant._ Can you even imagine what kind of destruction she'd be capable of?"

"I know… but I just don't know where to turn, what to do. Her Sith Empire is going to obliterate Coruscant on her just having a hunch that Palpatine is even there, is even still alive, or that he even knows the first thing about Force healing, a _Light Side_ ability… Oh, and she asked me to tell you something."

Barriss looked at Riyo, apprehensive that _Gràinne_ had wanted to tell them something, the same Gràinne who had tormented them so long ago, the same Gràinne who had apparently developed a taste for blood. What kind of threats would Ahsoka be warning them to watch out for?

"She told me to say, 'Thank you.' You saved her husband, and gave her, her daughter, and for that she would be forever grateful."

Barriss blinked. She was still awake, right? "We are talking about the same Gràinne right?"

"I think so."

"The same Gràinne who beat me up for being a lesbian?"

"Yup."

"She wanted you to thank me?"

"Mmhmm. And to apologize for beating you up for being a lesbian."

"What?"

"I have no idea, I guess she really loves her daughter."

Shaking her head, Barriss told her friend, "Just try to get some sleep. We'll have to tell the Council in the morning, whether we can do anything or not."

The next morning, Obi-Wan especially was concerned with Ahsoka's apparent contact with Gràinne. "We have to warn the Coruscant Jed," he declared with finality, "Even if they don't listen, we can't just sit back while one group of Sith plot a government take-over in their basement and another try to launch an invasion of said basement. At least a few of them will have to listen. Either to defend the Temple or try to evacuate the planet"

"I'll try to get them to answer," Kit replied, "So far they've been ignoring every transmission."

"We have to try."

"Master, what if they don't listen or reject every transmission?" Anakin asked.

"If Windu refuses to accept our insight… then I suppose we have no choice. We'll have to send a small strike team to do it ourselves."

"And risk Windu's wrath?" Eeth Koth inquired. He held no sympathy for Windu at this rate and was quite frankly willing to let the Temple burn to teach him a lesson if that is what it took.

"It's either him or the Sith," Ahsoka commented, "At least with fellow Jedi, there's a chance of survival."

"You don't know Mace," Kit answered with a sickened look in his eye. "The man is an absolute fanatic. The only chance we'd have with 'fellow Jedi' is if he were killed in assault."

"Which is why I said, a 'small' team," Obi-Wan clarified, "If we sent in an entire militarized force of a thousand Jedi it'd be instant war. If we sent two to spread the word, we could potentially save millions of lives."

Anakin nodded, "I'll go. I can hold my own in a fight if worst comes to worst."

Ahsoka piped up, "I'll have your back Skyguy."

"You always do."

"Good. I'm sorry it had to come to this." Obi-Wan shook his head in despair. "It really seems as if this is the worst possible scenario."

Aayla asked, "Is it possible we could also send an expedition to find Master Yoda? His coming out of exile-"

"Will do nothing," Koth finished, "And for the record I am against the idea of your incursion Skywalker, Bonteri. But I will do nothing to stop it" He had just had a baby, and he was _not_ willing to lose everything just to save Windu's hide again, not after so many years of antagonistic rhetoric coming from Coruscant, not after twenty years of threats. The fact that he once considered the monster a "friend," made him nauseous.

They were all well aware of his situation and Anakin and Ahsoka nodded in understanding, "We'll do everything we can to not get caught," Ahsoka replied.

Anakin offered, "Should anything happen, just ask Luminara for the keys to the _Twilight II¸_ take your wife and daughter and leave Teth.

Luminara added, "We understand and wouldn't want anything to happen to your new family."

"Thank you," Koth replied with a sigh, "Force be with us all."


	11. Chapter 10: Only Seals It

Ahsoka looked at her Master, hooded cloaks wrapped tightly about them both. They hadn't seen Coruscant in over 15 years, and it looked quite a bit worse for wear. It had never been a very clean planet but even the opulent, wealthy surface level was now covered in filth and trash. Republic troopers walked the sidewalks in massive patrols their reason evidenced by the wreckage from Palpatine Loyalist attacks which dotted the horizon. What had originally started as a political movement had quickly evolved into a cult-like worship of the madman as a living deity incarnate. Stepping off of the shuttle, the pair made their way as inconspicuously as possible towards the Jedi Temple when Ahsoka dragged him towards an alleyway.

She quietly voiced her doubts, "I don't know Master… what if we just make everything worse?"

"We have to try," was all Anakin replied with.

"But wouldn't it be better to go to the Senate and inform them?"

"Windu _is_ the Senate, Snips."

"Not yet. Chancellor Sinube is openly vocal against Jedi politicization. He'd surely listen."

"Well I don't know if you realize this but we can't exactly waltz into the Chancellor's office unannounced anymore."

"And we can't exactly waltz into the Jedi Temple either! Especially if it's apparently crawling with Sith cultists in the basement!"

Anakin held his head in his hand, clearly having not thought this out as thoroughly as he assumed. Then he had an idea, "Wait… do you still have contact with Rex?"

"From time to time? He's a general now, I think. Haven't gotten to speak with him in years though."

Anakin chuckled, "Well, let's see if we can stop by and say hello."

General Rex ran a comb through his white beard, laying down and straightening any loose wiry hairs, then inspected his grey uniform and medal plate, making sure everything was proper regulation. Taking his hat off its hanger he placed it neatly onto his head. Time for a shift-change, which meant time to inspect the troops. While nowhere near as glamorous as fighting back in the Clone War, precautionary patrols across Galactic City were what the Republic needed now; furthermore, the 501st was by far one of the most prestigious legions in the GAR by _far_ and the fact that he had been promoted to Clone General after General Skywalker and Commander Tano left. Granted the Fett clones had been slowly dwindling to a minority over the years, age had that effect. Just the other day he had to bury another brother. Wolffe this time. Civvies were replacing them and had totally replaced them in the grunt work. Oh there were clone officers aplenty but time was killing them one by one. Soon enough they'd all be extinct. Walking back to his desk to grab his datapad with updated orders, he took a quick look at the holo he kept on his desk. His wife and three kids, well step-kids technically, clones were sterilized to avoid wreaking genetic havoc across the galaxy with their offspring (at least it saved a small fortune on birth control!), but he loved them like they were his own. Kara, a beautiful, Mirialan woman, recent widow when they had met 15 years ago. They had just moved their oldest daughter in at her college a few months back, pre-med. He couldn't have been prouder of her. He held the holo in his hand, it was shortly after their wedding, they had taken a family holo. Their youngest was still an infant and their oldest had the widest snaggle-toothed grin while their middle child was camera shy and had tried to somewhat hide behind him. Sighing, he put it down. Time to get back to work.

Ahsoka and Anakin had arrived at the military base, right where it had always been. A bit of graffiti being scrubbed off by some grunts, all manner of soldiers ran around, in relatively similar white armor but customized to the various species enlisted. They were all in solid white nowadays, either they were all shinies or the tradition of personalizing the armor with legion colors had apparently been relegated to the past. A few sentries stood at the entrance of the base, a humanoid of some type and a Rodian by the look of their all-encompassing white armor. "Halt!" the Rodian ordered, "State your business!"

"We're here to visit General Rex."

"Do you have an appointment?" the humanoid asked.

"Uhm, no," Anakin replied honestly. "No we don't."

"Well then we can't let you in."

Ahsoka interjected, "Please! We have information on an upcoming attack!"

The Rodian trooper sighed, "Call the informant hotline like everyone else."

Now, Anakin was annoyed, "There's no time for a hotline, we need to get to Rex, _now_. We're old friends of his and he _needs_ to know about this _yesterday_ trooper!"

Another exasperated sigh, "Fine, look if you'll just give us your ID, I can get you an appointment with the general later this afternoon, alright?"

Ahsoka waved her hand and, with the slightest hint of a Force suggestion in her voice, said "You don't need to see our identification."

"We don't need to see your identification."

"You'll tell us exactly where General Rex is."

"Last I heard General Rex was in his office preparing for a troop inspection prior to sending them out on mid-morning patrols."

"We can go visit him right now."

"You can go visit him right now."

"Move along."

"Move along," the Rodian waved them through, "Move along."

Smirking, Ahsoka proudly walked in through the front door with Anakin in tow. Now to find Rex's office.

Rex stood in front of the 501st, eyeing them over. Row by row he did this, column by column. A few of the newer recruits had slight mistakes with their armor, one idiot put his on backwards and was ordered to fix it in front of the entire base. After inspection he waved them off to their commanders, who marched them out to their transports. Coco Town was a good fifty kilometers away and while Rex may have gotten stricter over the years, he hadn't gone insane. There was no way he'd order his men to march all the way there and back if he had an alternative. Nodding as the last transport departed, he marched back to his office. Endless paperwork, endless bureaucracy, endless regulations, and the spate of terrorist attacks had only made everything worse. The Palpatine Loyalists, or "Children of the All-Wise Leader" as they called themselves, had gotten bolder in the last few months. Normally there was only a few bombings, stabbings, speeders crashed into pedestrians, or mass shootings per year, but now it was multiple times per week. The informant hotline was swamped and despite his repeated requests to hire on new employees at the call centre to help him keep the Republic safe, the Senate was idiotically refusing it again and again. They were spending a fortune in the long term to save pennies now. Opening the door to his office, he was surprised to see two hooded figures with their backs to the door.

Quickly drawing his pistols he said, "Figures you'd finally come for me. Take out the defense against your damned terror cell. Put your hands behind your head!"

Ahsoka turned to face him, pulling down her hood, "Long time no see Rex."

"C-Commander?" Rex asked. He could hardly believe it. Immediately lowering his weapons back to their holsters, he stumbled up to her and looked her up and down.

"It's really us Rex," Anakin replied, similarly revealing himself.

Ahsoka ran up and hugged their old Captain as Rex laughed, "You got old!"

"Had to happen sometime," Ahsoka replied with a smile. That smile had led thousands of men into battle. He had missed that smile.

"You're one to talk there, grandpa," Anakin joked, punching Rex's arm, "I don't think there's a hair left on you that isn't white as snow!"

"What are you doing here?" Rex asked, "Wait, you aren't specters of death to lead me to the underworld with a familiar face, right?"

"Nope!" Ahsoka answered, "We're really here."

"And we really need to talk to you," Anakin continued, his smile dropping. When _Anakin_ _Skywalker _stopped smiling, that was not a good sign.

"What's happening?"

"There's going to be an invasion of Coruscant," Ahsoka informed him, "I don't know how big or when exactly, but I know it is going to be soon. Maybe even tomorrow. The new Sith Empire, the same ones who wiped out Zygeria."

"And we found the headquarters of the Palpatine cult," Anakin added, "They've taken refuge under the Jedi Temple."

"What?!"

"Apparently the Sith want to wipe out their competition, and that involves taking over Coruscant," Ahsoka explained, choosing to omit the part about her sister wanting to save her daughter.

"We need you to tell anybody and everybody who will listen," Anakin ordered, "Windu, the Chancellor, the Senate, the Jedi, _anyone_ and _everyone_."

"Yes sir!" Rex replied with a salute. "Permission to ask one question sir?"

"Go right ahead Cap... General," Anakin corrected himself.

"Will you be joining in the defense? And if you are, will any of your plans involve falling?"

"No, and no," the Jedi replied in disappointment, although with slight amusement at the second question, good times. "Windu threatened to kill our families if we did anything. We're stuck. We'll do all we can to help from the shadows."

The clone looked down, had Windu really threatened their families? Their children? He thought of his own family, "Well, I can't say I blame you, General Skywalker-"

"Come on Rex, call me Anakin."

"Anakin… I would do the same if he threatened my wife and kids."

"You're married?" Ahsoka asked.

Rex smiled and grabbed the holo off his desk, proud to show off his family, "It's an older holo, that little girl just started college. She's in pre-med."

"And that's your wife?" Ahsoka asked, pointing to the woman.

"Yep," Rex beamed.

"She's a remarkable woman," Anakin noted, a smile forming on his face, "If we had more time, I'd show you some holos of my family."

"And mine," Ahsoka interjected.

"But business comes first," Rex replied with a twinge of disappointment, "If you two could hide in that closet I'll contact the Jedi Council and let them know of their little terrorist infestation, then I'll informed the Chancellor of the impending invasion," he smiled, "Then maybe we can afford to spend some time exchanging family holos."

Nodding the Jedi crammed into the wardrobe and shut the door. Ahsoka was _not_ happy to have Anakin's elbow smashing in her nose, and he was likewise concerned with how unnervingly close her knee was to smashing his crotch. Getting as comfortable as they could in this position, the pair listened to Rex's call.

Rex took out his holo-communicator and brought about a visage of Mace Windu, former General, now Senator and Grand Master, and despite his denials obviously gunning for the Chancellorship. Mace didn't bother with a greeting, "Just the man I wanted to see. General Rex, I've found something."

"It might have to wait Senator Windu, I have information from an anonymous source on the CAWL terror-cult's base of operations."

Windu raised an eyebrow, "Most useful, if your source is correct. I trust you'll be leading an assault team there within the hour?"

"With your permission, of course."

"Of course. Where is it?"

"According to my source, underneath the Jedi Temple, sir."

Windu didn't find this apparent attempt at humor, "What kind of sick joke is this _trooper_," making sure he called Rex by the wrong rank to remind him of where he was from.

"No joke. Palpatine's cultists are based within the Jedi Temple."

"I'd have half a mind to think you were going senile."

"Can we at least investigate the information?"

"Never. No Sith cult would be popping up in my Temple without my knowledge."

"Fine, ignore that if you want to, but there is something else that is-"

"If it's from the same source I don't care to hear it General. We need you hunting terrorists, not fairytales."

Sighing in defeat, Rex simply replied, "Yes, Senator."

"Now as for a _legitimate_ threat, it would appear as though Palpatine had been constructing a planet-killing superweapon during his reign of terror in the Clone War. All the records as to its location or whether it has been destroyed were all wiped by Chancellor Amidala,"

"Skywalker…" Anakin muttered, only to be kneed exactly where he was afraid of being kneed by Ahsoka.

"As such, we may need to expand our patrols beyond just the Core Worlds. If he had constructed a massive space station, he may very well have been hiding out on it all this time."

Rex's steel gaze never broke from the Senator. This _idiot_ was really going off of an old record to find some decrepit rustbucket in the middle of nowhere that has probably been destroyed by now, but wouldn't even consider the possibility of an existential threat living in his basement?

"Of course, sir. We'll expand the patrols. Rex, out." Closing the call, Rex immediately punched his desk, shouting, "THAT KRIFFING POMPOUS MORON!"

"Can we get out now?" Ahsoka asked.

"One minute," Rex replied, calmer but still frustrated, "I'll call Chancellor Sinube. See what he can do. It'll be political hell if he goes over Windu's head and orders a search of the Temple but it'll be kriffing worth it."

Gràinne looked out upon the ecumenopolis with disdain. She despised this planet. Her and fifty-five Sith volunteers, including a fair number of Darths, crowded the _Millennium Falcon_. She made to land at the home of their enemies, both Jedi and false Sith. Despite being permeated with the Light, the Dark Shrine was still powerful, more powerful than when she had last seen Coruscant, when she had been awakened to the Darkness. Following its call, she ignored the hails sent by the Jedi Temple was she made her approach to the Temple hangar bay. She noticed Temple guards running out to where she was landing… cute. They thought she was a smuggler or some random criminal trying to make a big score. Deciding it would not be in her interest to open fire on the hangar bay, she ordered her astromech to man the cannons in case any danger were to come to the _Falcon_ while they were on their mission. From the cockpit she counted thirty Temple Guards. This part would be ridiculously easy, making their way through the _rest_ of the Temple to get to the ancient Sith Shrine to try and take out the cult? That would be a different story.

One of the Temple Guards banged on the door to the YT-300 freighter which had just landed unwelcomed in their hangar after ignoring every hail. They had better have a good reason for raising this kind of alert; he was hungry, he was tired, and he was cranky. Although he would never voice such a complaint, Windu's increasing paranoia had forced them to take double shifts and after expelling so many of their fellow guardsmen in his repeated purges they were all running on empty as far as sleeping and eating were concerned. Just a few hours ago two guards had collapsed from exhaustion and had to be rushed to the healers, who then rushed them to an actual hospital to get an IV drip going. He had also been cutting "non-Force" resources to the healers, making their jobs infinitely more difficult. Finally after what seemed like an hour, but was probably only a few minutes, of banging the ramp lowered and all the Guards ignited their yellow blades. An armored Togruta stood at the front of what looked to be an assault team, igniting the Darksaber. Behind her, all the Sith she had brought ignited their own red blades. It was a very good thing he was wearing a mask or his terror would have been blatantly evident.


	12. Chapter 11: Through the Gates of Hell

**A/N: Given the Title, you might be able to tell what's about to happen. Or maybe that's what I want you to think? Also, I will update when I update. I'll try to do it frequently but be patient if it isn't every day, I do have a job, and a family, and that might put a bit of a delay on the story chapters coming out. Please favorite and review, also, I own no characters except my own creations, and even then, I don't own the rights to their species. That's all on the Mouse Lord on his Mouse Throne.**

Sheev Palpatine sat at his makeshift throne, swallowed by his black and red Sith robes. He may have had to deal with a twenty-year setback, but at long last he was ready to make his move, he would take the galaxy as his own personal empire. No stupid Togruta farmgirl would stop him this time, oh no. The moves for a quiet takeover were scrapped long ago after that little incident. He scowled at the memory. His legions of hooded followers chanted in a half-stadium, waiting on their god-king to speak.

_Palpatine._

_Palpatine._

_Palpatine._

_Palpatine._

While his son had managed to escape the cult it was no matter, his followers had followed to insolent boy and his wife to Jakku and slaughtered them. No word on the child though. What was her name again? Bah, it didn't matter. Standing to his feet, he addressed his fanatics "Long have I waited for this day."

_Palpatine._

_Palpatine._

_Palpatine._

_Palpatine._

"Today, the treasonous Jedi will end!" Sheev snarled, his yellowed teeth and eyes now clearly visible as there was no longer any point to maintaining his friendlier appearance.

_Palpatine._

_Palpatine._

_Palpatine._

_Palpatine._

Gràinne ordered the attack, and the Sith charged from the _Falcon_ into the Hangar, immediately slicing into the Temple Guards. In their exhausted state, the outnumbered Guards were hardly a match for the Sith strike force. As the Empress dueled with one, another attempted to jump on her from behind only to be Force Pushed through the wall as she decapitated his friend. Lending aid to Darth Vengeance, she blasted his opponent with lightning. One Temple "Guard," the one who had been banging on the _Falcon_, she assumed simply collapsed at the sight of them. She wasn't above taking prisoners, which the five survivors clearly hoped as they surrendered.

"Darth Vengeance, you and Lady Carnage are to keep watch over the prisoners in the _Falcon."_

"Yes, Empress," they replied in unison, confiscating the Guards' lightsabers and marching them into the freighter. The five conscious prisoners were stuffed into a cupboard beneath the floor tile while the unconscious guard was put into the infirmary.

Adi Gallia massaged her temples in her darkened room. She had been having _awful_ migraine attacks for the past two weeks, and the new political jobs she had been given by the rest of the Council were _not_ helping. She had been against the Reformists, and still was, but Windu was making the Jedi Council into an echo chamber and the order into his own personal plaything. She wondered if the inherent Darkness of Form VII, Vapaad, had finally gotten to him. She took another long draught of her water, emptying the glass. Getting up and refilling it, she sat back at her mat and opened the datapad, turning the light settings as low as they could go. She sensed something amiss, but couldn't quite tell if it was the migraine, the Darkness which periodically enveloped the Temple since Tano's twin had accidentally reactivated an ancient Sith Shrine, or something else.

Serpeness followed the Call of the Dark Side. She felt it stronger than ever before in the halls of the Jedi Temple, her squadron of Sith Lords following right behind her. It had been years since she wandered these halls, lost and afraid. She did not remember the labyrinthine layout of the Temple, only followed the sound of that ancient, never forgotten voice.

"_Come to me, Daughter from Heaven. Seize what is yours."_

Gràinne stopped for but a moment at that old pet name given to her by her father. Choking back a sob, she internally replied, "_I have submitted myself fully to the Darkness. Give me the strength to fulfill my goals."_

"_Not yet, Child. Not yet."_ Of course, she had to force Palpatine to teach her the ways of Plagueis. Then and only then could she truly be considered a true master of the Dark Side.

A Jedi entered the hall casually whistling a peppy tune to himself, a padawan if she remembered correctly, they were the ones with the hair braids, scrolling through a holo-book. Looking up the redheaded teenager saw a group of fifty Sith Lords and Ladies, including the Dark Empress herself, sabers ignited and walking with a determination that only meant death. He stopped whistling and stood frozen as the Sith approached him. He was _not_ a coward by any stretch of the definition… but he also wasn't suicidal. Wide-eyed he tried to bargain, "I see nothing."

Jabbing her thumb to the hangar, she pointed the Darksaber's blade at the Padawan's throat, "White freighter, give me your saber and get in it."

"Yes ma'am," the Padawan who now smelled like urine complied without argument, tossing the saber at her feet and shuffling terrified towards the hangar bay. That was when the alarm sounded. Immediately flopping onto the ground, head hidden beneath his hands, the young Jedi shouted at the top of his lungs "IT WASN'T ME!"

The Captain of the Temple Guards, a Twi'lek Jedi Master forty-three years of age, tried hailing the unit she had sent to deal with the trespassing freighter. Sighing in frustration as they refused to pick up, she pulled up the security footage. Upon seeing the red lightsabers, she immediately pulled the alarms and sent the Temple into lockdown. Grabbing the intercom system, she immediately shouted, for the entire Temple to hear, "Sith! Spotted in the hangar bay! Sith Lords! All Jedi Masters and knights respond! Sith attack! Padawans and younglings enact lockdown procedures!"

At the sound of the intercom Serpeness shouted in frustration, "No! Not yet! I still haven't found Palpatine!" Calling PT-77, she ordered, "PT! Start up the _Falcon_ and circle the Temple! Blast the hangar bay!"

PT whirred in confusion.

"Do it!" Gràinne ordered, "We'll meet you at the roof!"

Beeping in compliance, PT closed the call just as what looked to be a hundred Jedi stormed the hangar. Engaging the engines, the _Millennium Falcon_ threw back a few of the closer Jedi and made way to leave before suddenly stopping in mid-air.

Vengeance snarled, then stated "They're using the Force to hold us back. I'll get the canons." Quickly climbing into the turret he activated the Falcon weapon systems and aimed at the Jedi Master clearly holding the ship in place. He blew him to smithereens and released the _Falcon_ from his Force Grip. Firing at the Jedi starfighters throughout the hangar before they could be boarded by their owners to give chase. A few Republic troopers had arrived to provide supporting fire but their blaster rifles did nothing against the ship. "PT! Circle the Temple! We'll provide a distraction for the Empress!"

PT whistled in obedient pleasure.

Adi Gallia and Coleman Kcaj ran towards the hangar bay. Palpatine had attacked the Temple itself?! Such a move hadn't been made by the Sith in over four thousand years!" The massive blast-proof doors opened to show the hangar bay in flames, fuel tanks exploding in the inferno, adding to the heat and destruction. Only one survivor managed to stumble into Gallia's arms, a Pantoran Republic trooper, whose plasteel armor was half-melted. The man was so covered in soot that the Jedi pair could only tell his species from his eyes. Gallia looked at Kcaj and said, "I'll get him to the healers! Find out where the Sith!"

"On it!"

"Force be with you!" Adi called as he ran off.

"With you as well!" Coleman replied.

Picking up the soldier, Gallia rushed towards the lift. He coughed from the amount of smoke he had inhaled and muttered, "They're gone The-the-they're all dead. J-Jedi are supposed to be invulnerable. They're all dead. They're all dead. THEY'RE ALL DEAD!" with his screamed declaration she coughed again.

"Calm down trooper!" Gallia ordered, "We'll get you medical attention as soon as we can! Hang on!"

Palpatine raised his arms, lifting their supply of weapons with the Force; "The Republic, which has betrayed us, shall fall!" he declared to cheering chants.

_Palpatine!_

_Palpatine!_

_Palpatine!_

_Palpatine!_

It was at this that the explosions rocked the catacomb, even causing Sidious to stumble. He looked at the roof of the Sith Shrine, above which sat the Jedi Temple they would soon raid and snarled. Whatever that was, it wasn't him.

"This is concerning information General," Chancellor Sinube remarked in shock. "An attack on Coruscant? And the terrorists hiding in the Jedi Temple?"

"Yes, Your Excellency. I understand your hesitation, I wouldn't believe it either if I didn't trust the source."

"Who is your source exactly?" Sinube questioned.

"To ensure their own safety they asked me not to reveal that Chancellor, but I would trust them with my life, and have on several occasions."

"In that case I shall inform Senator Windu of his little infestation-"

"All due respect your Excellency, I've already tried that. He insists that Palpatine and his followers are on some abandoned space station in the middle of nowhere."

"He doesn't trust your sources?"

"He doesn't trust anyone."

"Fair enough. But I cannot simply order an investigation into the Jedi Temple itself without permission from the Jedi Order."

"I'm not asking you to do anything outside legal boundaries Chancellor, I'm asking that you try to make Senator Windu see reason, even if you have to strong-arm your way through."

"Hold that thought General," Sinube asked, "I have another call on the emergency line."

"I'll await my orders sir!"

Closing the call, the Jedi in the closet finally tumbled out onto the floor. Ahsoka was the first to stand, "Is this really happening right now?! We came all the way here to keep you and the Republic as a whole safe and nobody is willing to listen?!"

"I'm doing my best, Ahsoka," Rex replied, a sigh of irritation escaping his lips, "But Windu has gone completely insane! Getting him to comply with anything that isn't his idea is almost impossible!"

Anakin chuckled darkly, "I guess _some_ things never change."

Rex held up a finger, signaling for them to be quiet, as his commlink beeped. Answering the call Rex replied, "General Rex speaking."

"General!" Master Gallia replied, "There's an attack at the Jedi Temple! We need every available man and starfighter to reinforce!"

"Of course, sir! Help is on the way now!" closing the call he immediately sent out emergency orders to the entire 501st legion to report to the Jedi Temple to repel an attack while the Jedi pair stared at him in horror. They were too late.

Rex turned to face them, "Sure you can't help? We could use some competent Jedi here."

Anakin and Ahsoka looked at one another, "I guess we don't have much choice," she finally answered.

"Just make sure the Orthodox Jedi don't know we were here," Anakin replied, lifting his hood back up to conceal his face.

The _Millennium Falcon _fired every weapon it had throughout the Temple, causing as much damage and distortion as it could, eventually even knocking down one of the five spires on the top. At this point Darth Vengeance was simply playing with the _Falcon_'s weapons systems, laying destruction on a defenseless sitting duck when PT beeped in a panic, informing him of incoming gunships. Turning the turret to face the incoming enemies, he fired at the gunships and fighters, who immediately returned fire as PT took evasive maneuvers. Lady Carnage went to the viewport and reached out into the Force, grabbing one of the gunships and slamming it into another, resulting in a devastating explosion which shattered nearby windows on the Temple and rained flaming shrapnel onto the building.

Carnage looked at PT-77, "We're going to need to lose those fighters!"

PT-77 snapped back with a shrill whistle and tightly looped around the remaining spires of the Temple while contacting Gràinne.

Serpeness took a lightsaber to the cuirass, thankfully Baskar was lightsaber-proof, and sliced the jedi knight assaulting her across the chest. They were completely surrounded by dead or wounded Jedi, aside from the one Padawan prisoner they were now dragging around, but she had already lost half of her strike team and they hadn't even made it to the lower levels yet. Baring her teeth under her helm she growled in frustration. Blasting a wall with a storm of lightning, she completely obliterated the drywall, revealing an ancient blast door. This was it. She knew it. Smiling with glee, she reignited the Darksaber and plunged it into the metal. They could take shelter from the Jedi search parties in this forgotten passageway to the Sith Shrine. Her commlink beeped, and PT informed her of the situation.

"Try to lose them then come pick us up in an hour. We might have to retreat for the moment."

PT-77 beeped in conformation.

The Children of the All-Wise Leader grabbed their weapons. Rocket launchers, disruptor rifles, blaster pistols, even stolen lightsabers personally bled by Sidious himself, they would rise to the surface and engage the Jedi in their own home. Without its precious guardians the Republic would stand all but defenseless against their god-king, with or without an army. As Sheev cackled, he unleashed a furious storm of lightning, lighting the entire Shrine complex in brilliant blueish-purple light and all but vaporizing the mountaintop which had hidden the Sith holy site for so many centuries. Meditating in the Dark Side Nexus for two decades had made him exponentially more powerful. Were he slightly less proud, he would have considered the little setback the greatest thing to ever happen to him precisely because of this, although he was still embarrassed by the hamster bottle thing while he was imprisoned so no reason to thank the little brat, assuming she even survived Dooku's training. With the revelation of daylight to the Shrine for the first time in 5000 years, Palpatine's army lunged itself into the heart of the beast.

Anakin and Ahsoka rode in the back of Rex's speeder, rushing towards the Jedi Temple, which was half in flames with a white freighter flying around trying to shake off republic fighter and gunships. Troop transports landed all around them with men in white plasteel armor pouring from them, guns at the ready. Igniting their lightsabers, Ahsoka and Anakin stormed up the stairs with the men, cloaks drawn tightly about them to prevent recognition by the local Jedi as "those hated apostates" or "Diet Sith" or whatever they were considered now. Then the ground seemed to vanish before their eyes, dropping dozens of troopers to their deaths. An army of cultists charged from the underground chasm to wage war on the Republic, and the Jedi, all the while chanting:

_Palpatine!_

_Palpatine!_

_Palpatine!_

_Palpatine!_

Gràinne and her Sith were slicing through the cultists as if they were nothing more than air, but the flood kept coming. Deflecting blaster fire, she ordered "Fall back! The cultists are coming to us! Get to a better position and hold them there!" She slowly backed away, covering the rear of her strike force, now only twenty, plus Vengeance and Carnage in the _Falcon._ She refused to give up now, not when they were so close, not when they had already lost so many. No.She. Would. Kill. PALPATINE! Grabbing nearly two dozen cultists with the Force, she snapped their necks and flung them at the mass infantry assault before frying the frontmost cultists with lightning. Poblithes remained at her side, the ever-loyal apprentice, his crossguard lightsaber complementing every move made by the Darksaber. Taking their opportunity, the Master and Apprentice brought down a weight-bearing column and leapt away, crushing hundreds of cultists and sealing off the entryway they were charging through. Together steaming towards the main battlefield, if Palpatine wasn't there they would have to come back to the catacombs and search for him. She refused to leave without either his knowledge or his power. He was the only man alive who knew the secrets of Plagueis. She had to save her daughter. Paging PT-77, she ordered "PT! Come back to the Temple as soon as you can! We'll need air support!"

Ahsoka's sabers deflected the incoming blaster fire and blocked disruptor rounds from the swarming cultists. Some of the battalions still under Jedi leadership carried riot shields to defend themselves and their general. Just like back in the Clone War, she and Anakin were the shields, and these weren't even her men anymore. If anything, they would arrest her if they knew who she was; thankfully, her hood managed to stay lifted to conceal her face so to them she was just another Jedi. Blasters rained fire every which way, and Jedi tried to hold their own against the waves upon waves of CAWL terrorists, some eventually succumbing to the sheer numbers. She was managing to push her way into the mass, unwittingly becoming separated from Anakin. The Togruta Jedi slashed her swirling blades through cultist after cultist, when she felt a body bump into her back Quickly noticing she was surrounded she whirled to slice through what was obviously a cultist, only for her saber to spark off from the body's Baskar armor. The owner of which slashed the Darksaber at Ahsoka only to be blocked. The pair stared at one another in stunned silence, sabers locked but both frozen and seemingly incapable of making a move. Finally Ahsoka managed to stammer out, "Gràinne?!"

"Ahsoka?" The armored Empress asked, equally stunned.


	13. Chapter 12: War Makes Strange Bedfellows

Blaster fire surrounding the sisters, they stared one another in the eyes, Ahsoka's brilliant blue to Gràinne's Sith yellow.

"Why," was all Ahsoka could say. Not a question, per se, more so a statement of disbelief.

"Down!" Gràinne declared, flinging her Damascus steel blade with the Force through a ring of cultists as Ahsoka ducked, pushing away Republic troopers who began to focus their aim at her sister. Gràinne leapt over Ahsoka's shoulders and deflected blaster and disruptor fire from her. Ahsoka stood and the twins pressed their backs against one another, defending one another.

"What are you doing here?!" Ahsoka asked, blocking blaster bolts with her dual sabers.

Unleashing a furious storm into a Jedi knight charging at her, Gràinne replied, "I could ask you the same thing! I already told you why I was coming here!"

Whirling about, to dismember a cultist, Ahsoka's hood was lung back down, "I came here to let the Republic know about Palpatine's cult, and to keep them safe, HEADS UP!" Gràinne and Ahsoka simultaneously flipped above a red saber thrown their way, not one of Serpeness's, she was intimately familiar with every Darth and Lord's sabers, its owner either killed or not Force-sensitive as it never came back around again. "Keep them safe from you!" she finished having swapped places with her sibling.

"Yeah, well ya sure made a fine job o' that didn't ye?" Serpeness half-mocked, strangling a Republic trooper with the Force and flinging his body into a cultist rifleman about to blast Anakin.

In the total chaos of the battlefield, Coleman Kcaj was more than capable of holding his own. Where this Sith cult came from he had no idea but it was clearly in connection to the Sith attack on the hangar bay. He looked around him in a frantic manner trying to find a better position when he saw, _her_. That turncoat, that _heathen_, fighting back to back with an attacking Sith. Oh he recognized that vermin immediately, Ahsoka Tano. He had personally sent out her expulsion notification all those years ago. His blood boiled at the sight of her. Windu was right! Those heretics were aligned with the Sith and would seek to destroy them! With a shout amplified with the Force in his rage, he called out, "TRAITOR!" and leapt towards the Togruta twins, whose attention instantly snapped to him.

He slashed at Ahsoka, who quickly countered with a parry while Serpeness lunged into an attack with the Darksaber. Whirling to block her incoming strikes, Kcaj left himself vulnerable to Ahsoka, who was forced to deflect Republic and cultist blaster fire and was unable to press the advantage.

Serpeness hacked away at Kcaj, taking a momentary lapse in concentration to electrocute Republic troopers coming up to aid him. She sensed the anger radiating off of him, quietly giggling her to herself as she locked blades, she started teasing him, "You have so much rage in you Master Jedi! I thought you weren't allowed to feel?" Kcaj threw her back when he broke the lock, which Serpeness easily recovered from, landing on her feet a good three meters away and slicing through cultists and troopers alike.

With seven severed heads rolling towards him, Coleman remarked, "You'll pay for that." Running towards her, he prepared for a forceful slash across her stomach, which the Sith Empress readied herself to block. He was surprised however to see a lightsaber wielding Jawa catapult himself off of his Empress's head and slice downwards. His surprise did not retain for long though, as he fell dead shortly thereafter.

Poblithes looked back towards his Empress, his master, and reported whilst blocking incoming fire, "I saw Palpatine making his way to the surface!"

"WHERE?!"

"Towards the" Poblithes was quickly cut off by the sound of a Force Storm, which annihilated Republic troopers and Jedi around it, disintegrating them instantly. "That," Poblithes pointed, "that's where he is."

Gràinne hailed PT-77 again, "PT, air support at any moment now would be _great!"_

PT beeped indignantly.

"I get that you're still being chased by fighters! BRING THEM HERE!"

A confused beep.

"DO IT!"

Rex fired his twin blaster pistols from behind some rubble, using the wrecked statue as cover. He had to live through this, for Kara, for the kids. Blasting in rapid fire at attacking cultists armed with disruptors before they could vaporize any more of his men, he was eventually pinned down by one CAWL cultist with a Z-6 Rotary blaster canon laying down suppressive fire in his section. Hiding behind the rubble he tried to crawl around to get an angle to shoot at the gunner when a trooper stopped him, "You stay here general! I'll go!"

As he stood to run Rex shouted "No!" and the trooper was gunned down, his armor riddled in holes. Shouting into his commlink he ordered, "This is General Rex, we need an airstrike at the Jedi Temple, now!" Then he saw the furious Storm annihilating all nearby forces. "Oh, kriffing Hell. I am getting _too old_ for this shit."

Darth Vengeance locked the Republic fighters in his sites and fired the _Falcon_'s cannons at them, managing to take out three with one shot. PT-77 whistled at him, "We're going back?"

PT whirred.

"If the _Empress_ needs air support then things are going really bad."

PT turned the freighter around to make another attack run on the Temple. At top sub-light speed they would arrive in five minutes.

Having been outed as Anakin Skywalker by an Orthodox knight, who Anakin was unfortunately forced to kill in self-defense, the Jedi Master was now having to stave off attacks from Sith cultists, Jedi, and republic troopers. Backing into a corner to keep his back protected he blasted a squadron of Republic melee commandos charging at him with vibroblades. Was that really what the Republic trained them to do now? Charge headlong into a Jedi with a lightsaber? Were they trying to avoid paying them by just having them killed off in the heat of battle with suicide tactics? He tried his best not to think about it as he deflected blaster bolts from every direction, from both armies, trying his damnedest to not have a complete nervous breakdown. Soldiers armored in white firing at him, the Temple in flames, was this what Order 66 was supposed to be like? He couldn't think about that now. Not if he wanted to come back home to his children, not if he ever wanted to see Luminara again. The plan was completely kriffed at this point, and any hope of escaping undetected was out the airlock. He had to survive long enough to try and explain why he was there. Of course, explaining just how exactly he knew that Palpatine's cultists were under the Jedi Temple in the first place, let alone that Gràinne's Sith Empire was going to launch an attack, that would be a little more difficult to explain. Throwing back another group of riflemen, he leapt away from his corner and took cover behind a fallen statue, nearly being shot by a surprised Rex.

"Anakin!" Rex shouted, "Shit, you scared me half to death!"

"Any idea on what that Storm was?"

The sound of evil cackling rang through the battle, freezing even the owner's own followers to the bone.

"Maybe," Rex answered. The 501st was falling back in a chaotic retreat, despite Rex ordering them to hold position at all costs. "Augh! Kriffing draftees! The CAWL are almost destroyed!"

Anakin put a hand on the General, his old Captain's, shoulder, "Get out of here Rex. If you're found with me and Snips then you'll be court martialed, probably executed. Go home, make sure your family stays safe."

"I'm not leaving you, Skywalker."

"I'm not asking," Anakin ordered, shoving him with the Force into one of the transports before the doors sealed and the shuttles flew off.

Sheev was, at this point, more aura than man. His small assault of followers may have been nearly wiped out, but the Republic was fleeing, reinforcements were coming, and the Jedi Order's on-planet supply of masters and knights was almost totally exterminated. Everything was proceeding as he had foreseen; all was working according to his design. However, he felt something. A presence he hadn't felt since, "MacGuffin," he growled in fury. The one who, by pure accident, had foiled his plans decades ago. She must have become a Jedi like her idiot sister. Storming towards the source of the presence he knew that he would have his revenge.

Gràinne's eyes narrowed beneath her helm, and she began to march towards the rival Sith's signature in the Force. Ahsoka stood in front of her, lightsabers drawn, "What do you think you're doing?"

"I will nae be denied," Serpeness replied, casually throwing her sibling aside with the Force. She would rip Plagueis's teaching from his skull if she had to, she would not accept defeat or surrender, not now. Not when she was so close. She may have only had a handful of Sith survivors, but their mission would be a success, their sacrifices would not be in vain. As CAWL fighters continued to brawl with Jedi and Sith, The Empress and Pretender locked eyes on one another. Behind her she could hear the _Millennium Falcon_ laying fire upon the battlefield, leaving a wall of fire and death in its wake. Republic gunships also fired upon the remaining cultists while trying to evade attacks from both the ground and the _Falcon_ as the freighter looped back around. Reigniting her Darksaber, Gràinne silently challenged Sheev for his mantle, Serpeness and Sidious snarling at one another, prepared to murder the one they saw as a rival. Sidious for his own power and vengeance, Serpeness for her child's life.


	14. Chapter 13: A New Hope, Birthed in Chaos

Windu stood at the command deck of the star destroyer next to Admiral Tarkin. He wasn't a fan of Tarkin and the feeling was mutual, but his philosophy on weapon design was certainly cost efficient, he'd give him that. Fewer fighters meant fewer hands on-deck you need to feed, clothe, shelter, and in replacing them with largely automated turbolaser cannons they could do just as much damage for a fraction of the cost. He still had a lingering sense of irritation from his holocall earlier. Did that clone really believe such stupid rumors? He'd have to ask him about his "sources" later, a little mind trick would get him to talk without issue. Whoever it was, they were clearly out to get the Jedi Order. He honestly wouldn't be surprised if Chancellor Sinube had put them up it. Damned lizard was itching at the chance to storm the Temple.

The blue lines of hyperspace swirled in their eternal dance about the ship as they made their way to the Outer Rim. He didn't care if he had to search every system in the galaxy personally, Palpatine's superweapon could not be permitted to exist. They would find it and destroy it, if it was the last thing he did. Windu sensed a trooper coming up behind him, "I trust there's something important you wish to tell me soldier?"

"Yes, Senator. An urgent message for you."

"How urgent?"

"Coruscant is under attack."

The Jedi an Admiral both turned to face the Zeltron man in shock, and shouted in unison, "What?!"

"General Gallia is on the line for you, Senator and she's-" Windu pushed past him and stormed towards the holotable, projecting Master Adi Gallia nursing a wound, a cauterized stump where her hand used to be.

"What happened?"

"Sith attack, Palpatine's followers were hiding in the Temple the entire time."

Windu grimaced, so that clone wasn't going insane at all, "So I've been told, how are casualties?"

"Almost thousand Jedi knights and masters are dead or severely injured. I don't know how many Republic troopers or"

"Lost troopers don't concern me if those terrorists are still alive."

"Barely. There are maybe a hundred left, the remaining Jedi can handle _them_ without issue."

"I sense you're about to tell me what they can't handle."

"Palpatine is here."

Windu turned to Tarkin, "Turn the fleet around."

"We can't just _turn around _in _hyperspace!_ It's not physically possible!"

"Then when is the soonest we can get _out_ of hyperspace?"

"In three days!"

"Fine, then in three days we make an immediate return to Coruscant."

"Yes, Senator."

Sidious could feel MacGuffin's rage through the Force. As Republic gunships and a random freighter laid waste to the area around the half-ruined Jedi Temple. Good, that little Jedi pest would be brought to the Dark Side just before he killed her. Apparently, the Jedi had managed to steal her back from his former apprentice. Good, that traitor spawning cadet branch of Bane's dynasty was the last thing he needed to worry about. Laughing at the chaos around him, Jedi, cultists, and apparently an independent group of Dark acolytes in a three-way frenzy with thousands of bodies scattered around them. He stepped over the body of yet another dead apprentice. He'd really have to keep the next one in a bubble or something just to keep them alive long enough to succeed him, assuming he hadn't fully figured out immortality yet. He had a theory going but couldn't test it just yet. Gràinne would make an excellent test subject.

Serpeness allowed every bit of rage course through her veins, tempering it just enough to keep her from outright murdering the rival before her. She could still pull the memories out of him when he was dead, but it was significantly easier if he was still alive to share them himself. His disgusting cackle only served to anger her more.

"Good, little one, good!" Palpatine mocked, "Let your hate flow through you. Give in to your anger, every moment become more my _ack!" _He felt the Force grip around his throat as Serpeness lifted her hand.

His devoted followers, those who were still alive anyway, saw their god king's plight and immediately turned from trying to kill the Jedi to trying to save Palpatine, firing every weapon they had at the armored Togruta. She didn't even bother blocking the bolts which ricocheted off her Baskar. "There is no escape," she hissed. Slamming Sidious into the floor hard enough to leave a crater she turned and blasted the remaining CAWL away with the Force, forcing them to reengage with the Jedi survivors in order to break through to him in addition to fighting off the remaining Sith attackers

Now he saw her armor's style. Ah, so Dooku was able to train her fully. Meaning he had a rival, and those pathetic imbeciles were probably her assassins. Well "pathetic" being relative, as they were holding their own quite well against the remaining Jedi despite their being few in numbers. "Imbecile!" he snarled, "You have disrupted the grand plan twice now, and that I cannot allow. Now, young MacGuffin, you will die!"

As Sidious unleashed a torrent of lightning Serpeness grabbed a distracted Jedi with the Force and used him to block the attack, almost instantly killing him. As she struggled to maintain her meatshield's placement, she flung the Darksaber at Sidious with the Force. The older Sith stopped it just centimeters away from his face, cackling madly to further incite her anger. The pair's rage melded together and battled for dominance like a whirlwind in the Force until they were both blasted back from the explosion of the storm. Palpatine recovered first and stood to his feet, blasting Serpeness with lightning, reveling in her screams of agony.

Ahsoka was locked in battle with a Jedi Master, while Anakin stood behind her against the Jawa Sith Lord, one of only three of Gràinne's followers still alive on the ground. Blocking her attacks with her main blade Ahsoka managed to disarm her, literally, before throwing her back with the Force and laying into Poblithes, who despite facing down two incredibly skilled Jedi Masters was able to hold his own seemingly without breaking a sweat, even chuckling as he flipped about to evade their onslaught.

Gràinne felt as though she were on fire, her phobia in full power essentially froze her in place save for her cries of pain. However, the Dark Side was fueled by fear. Finally breaking free of her instinct to freeze she tapped into her fear, her pain, her desperation, and reached through the Force to Palpatine's hands. Gripping them with the Force she broke every bone in his hands and closed them into shattered fists. His own confusion and panic was evident as she pulled him towards her, gripping his throat with her hands. Strangling the elder she looked him dead in the eyes, "You will tell me what I want to know. Teach me what you never taught my master. Then, when you have outlived your usefulness, you will die."

Palpatine spat on her helmet.

"So be it," Serpeness declared, snapping his neck with her armored hands. Serpeness felt a shift in the Force, memories she never had suddenly flashed before her eyes, raw power filling her, lifting her from the ground. In a flash, she witnessed millennia of Sith warriors in battle, a man in a ventilator mask leading a charge at the Jedi Temple, Sith warriors on Ruusan, combative trials of long-dead Dark Lords, earning their place at their masters' sides. All races, men, women, some she had no idea what they were: Twi'leks, humans, Pantorans, Rodians, Gun-guns, Muuns, Bith, Kaminoans, Zygerians, and even a Hutt. All the visions came to a halt, and she fell back to her feet where she stood. Around her loomed the phantoms of tens of thousands of Dark Lords, before her the red, haunting visage of Darth Bane.

The Dark Lord's spirit eyed her before proclaiming, "A thousand generations now live in you… Sith'ari." Much to her surprise, the phantom bowed before her, followed suit by the thousands of Sith who lived before her. All kneeled to the ultimate culmination of their work. By the hands of Darth Serpeness, the Jedi would finally fall. However Serpeness was not satisfied with this knowledge just yet. She saw among the spirits that of Darth Plagueis. She knew now that she had succeeded in her endeavors. Paging PT-77, she ordered an immediate evac. They had won.

Aayla Secura and Barriss Offee were leading the endeavor to find Master Yoda in his exile. The pair had started on Tatooine and were hoping for any leads to Yoda's location in Moss Eisley. All they had found was something about a pirate base in Beggar's Canyon. "Come on Flora," Aayla beckoned to her service sheep, Angus's great-grand-lamb. Barriss swore those things were getting smarter by the generation, but she didn't say anything about it, maybe sheep were semi-sentient like Rancors or Monkey-Lizards? Flora had apparently learned how to read at some point, and Aayla swore she did not teach her that.

"So, you think taking out the pirates will do anything for us?"

"Well it won't get us any further away from finding him."

"Fair point," Barriss replied, holding the binoculars to her eyes and looking at the pirate base. "There has to be at least thirty there. maybe more inside."

"Probably," Aayla retorted

"Wait, is that an IG unit?" Barriss asked, handing the binoculars to Aayla.

A few minutes of continuous blaster fire later and the IG was eventually pinned down and forced to self-destruct. Aayla Fisto remarked, "It was, and now I'm counting two living pirates."

"Well that makes our job easier. Thank you, serial killer droid."

Carnage lowered the ramp to the _Falcon_, beckoning Gràinne and Poblithes to leap into the ship, meanwhile Vengeance was firing the cannons at everything that looked remotely like it was still standing, which wasn't much. At this point the flames from the hangar had spread to engulf half of the Jedi Temple, four of the five spires had collapsed, and the remaining walls were crumbling. Padawans and younglings were evacuating from the Temple alongside injured knights and Republic troopers. The fighters which had been pursuing them had either turned back or were destroyed. Poblithes was the first of the four Sith to leap onto the _Flacon_'s ramp, followed by Carchara, Desolata, and finally Serpeness, who gave her sister a mock salute and winked at Anakin. The two Reformed Jedi lifted their hoods and slunk away into the evening. The battle had taken most of the day, and they needed to find a way back to Teth as soon as possible. They may not have been able to stop Gràinne's assault on the Temple, but it was hardly the invasion they had feared. At the very least, they could now rest easy knowing Palpatine was finally, finally dead.

Serpeness contacted her regent, who promptly kneeled and asked, "My Empress, how was your assault?"

"A success, although we took heavy losses. We left with fifty-six and only six made it out."

"A tragedy, but the mission was a success?"

"Yes, the Jedi Temple was all but demolished, their ranks of trained warriors all but exterminated, and the pretender to my title has died by my hand."

"Ah, a most rewarding victory, milady. Songs will be sung of this day, and our brave warriors' sacrifice."

Aayla managed to scare off the two remaining pirates by simply igniting her lightsaber, and as she kept an eye out for any survivors the IG unit may have missed Barriss cut through the blast doors of the main building. She could sense a powerful presence in the base, but it did not seem either friendly or hostile. Pulling the cutout from the door out of their way, the Jedi entered the warehouse and searched with their eyes and with the Force. Barriss eventually found the source of the presence, within a little hover pod. Curious, she opened it and immediately fell in love. "Aww!"

"What?" Aayla asked, curious as to what could have prompted that response in a pirate base, "What's, _oh Force, it's adorable!"_

Barriss was simply cooing at the infant inside. They may not have found Yoda yet, but they found a baby of whatever he was.

**A/N: I'm sorry for the delay, a lot of chaos going on in my life atm. School starts back in a few days so it could be a few weeks before I can properly update again. I'll try to do at least twice a month, that's my goal.**


	15. Chapter 14: Semperque Proditoribus

Serpeness prepared to interrogate their new Jedi prisoners. Not with torture, necessarily, on the contrary she had requested a banquet to be prepared for them and for her Dark Council, but with just enough threatening to make her kindness seem without alternative and to remind the Council as to who exactly was in charge on Talamh. Such a heavy toll for such seemingly little reward as the raid on the Temple was enough to cause some treasonous mutterings to be reported by her spies. She gazed into the eye sockets of the skull she used as a wine glass, once King Zash of Zygeria. She was beyond ecstatic with the knowledge she had pulled from Palpatine's mind and the ability to commune with Plagueis himself, to heal any affliction, to grant near-immortality to anyone she desired. She would test her new abilities on her daughter's illness, but first she would have to deal with a few nuisances with mutterings of treason. As the captured Jedi "guests" were being escorted into the banquet hall. Lifting her skull goblet she greeted them, "Ah! My most welcome guests! I trust your accommodations are adequate?"

One of the captive Temple Guards relied, "We're prisoners of war and you threw us in a dark hole in the ground."

"Only the finest of holes!" Gràinne defended, "You even had a window! Do you realize how rare those are in prisons across this planet?" Staring them down for a moment her expression softened, "Ah but you see I have need of you, and I can give you nearly anything you desire in return."

Another captured Jedi spat in disgust, "We won't do anything to help you destroy the Republic! We'll die before we give in!"

"If you would rather die then why did you surrender?" Gràinne asked him, receiving only sheepish aversions of their eyes, "Further, I don't care about your Republic. Not at the moment anyway." Gesturing to the table before her she beckoned them "Sit! Eat! I can promise you this is much better than the gruel they give ye in the oubliette." Smiling, she bit into her roast swan and waited for the Jedi to do as suggested.

Slowly, one by one, they caved into their hunger and hesitantly accepted the venerable feast before them. Such excess was typically eschewed by the Jedi, but after days crammed into a tiny hole in the floor, only to be shoved into a much larger hole in the floor, with feeding being sporadic at best, anybody would give in. Welcoming their company she inquired as to their personal stories, to attempt to endear herself to them, "So, tell me about yeselves?"

No answer.

"Alright, well if ye are going to be like that I'll start. Do you know why I attacked yer temple?"

"Because that's what Sith do," the Pau'an male replied, "You kill and destroy _everything_ which could pose a threat to you."

"I did it to save my child. I knew Palpatine was hiding in the Temple and tried to give ye advanced warning, why didn't ye heed it?"

"Wait, _what?!" _another captive asked.

"Oh, right, ye were already captured when that battle broke out. He's dead now, ye needn't worry yerself about it anymore."

"So you want to… save, the Republic?"

"I already told ye, I don't give a shite about your Republic. I needed Palpatine to save my child, and he refused."

"You're a mother?" a human female asked.

Gràinne smiled, genuinely smiled for the first time in a very, very long time, revealing to the captives that she had a few teeth missing. "Aye. Me wee Aislinn. I've burned entire planets to cinders to try and cure her illness. Now, with the knowledge Palpatine had, I finally can."

"Well what do you want from us?"

"Since the Jedi, particularly _you_, resisted, I'm willing to assume that ye are all hostile. I want to know the inner workings of the Jedi. What's yer 'Grand Master' planning?"

"We don't know, and even if we did, we wouldn't tell you."

Tracing her fingers around the rim of Zash's wine-filled braincase Serpeness cooed, "I can be pretty convincing." She sensed that the Jedi were starting to gather that the resemblance her cup bore to a skull was not an artistic design.

Finally her Dark Council arrived, prompting them to kneel and rise before their Empress who greeted them, "Ah! Right on time! I was just getting acquainted with our new _friends_." She hadn't replaced the fallen members yet but had given Desolata and Vengeance promotions as her Seneschal and Enforcer respectively. Both of them were still fanatically loyal to her, nut the remainder she knew had stirrings of treason within them. Imbeciles, did they really delude themselves into believing that they could overpower her? Together, perhaps they could, but they were not as clever as she.

Sitting at the table, a troupe of maidservants brought out bowls of beet soup to the seated members of the Dark Council, save for Desolata and Vengeance, who received a soup made from this strange tuber in the New World called "potato," due to Desolata having discovered an extreme allergy to beets which nearly killed her the first time she ate one and Vengeance simply despising their flavor. The Jedi captives were also given this potato soup. Serpeness herself was given mutton stew, given that Togruta could not digest vegetation. The survivors eyed their Empress with open disdain, and visons of mutiny danced in their heads.

"Members of the Dark Council, I welcome you to this celebratory banquet," she smirked sweetly, raising her "To the fall of our enemy, and to the rediscovery of _immortality_!" The Sith all took a long draught from their wine goblets, which were not made of skulls of fallen enemies, and began to eat the first course of their meal. Gràinne crossed herself and quickly muttered a prayer in Gaelic, having reconnected to the Catholic church, albeit her having been welcomed back into Catholicism was probably fueled by the utter terror of the Papacy but it got the job done. "Now, as for the next phase of the Grand Plan,"

A Chiss, Darth Toxikon, pointed at the Jedi, "If you are concerned with the Grand Plan then why do we dine with this Jedi filth?!"

The Togruta simply stared the Jedi down, maintaining unbroken eye contact with them, as she answered cryptically, "I'm sure they will prove themselves useful… for their own sakes." Returning her gaze to her Dark Council as they ate their soup, she continued, "As for the next phase of the Grand Plan, I have seen a potential for betrayal against me. Mutterings within my own Dark Council of treason."

A human, born of Hindustan, stood and shouted, "You are mad!" Suddenly, his face immediately dropped and he stumbled forward, collapsing to his knees coughing violently.

"And you believe you can challenge me?" Other members of the Dark Council who had been fed the beet soup also began coughing and stumbling, a few hacking up blood, while Serpeness simply watched, leisurely sipping on her wine. "I already know who is working to betray me, or rather, _was_ working to betray me. I may not be more powerful than all of ye, but I'm far cleverer." Within a few minutes, the last of the traitors was dead, with the increasingly terrified Jedi trembling in their seats as the Sith beckoned for her guards, "Make examples of them."

"Yes, my Empress," the soldiers responded in unison, dragging the corpses out of the room.

"Now," Gràinne began, turning back towards the Jedi, "Where were we?"

Windu had looked upon the wreckage of the Temple and felt only rage. The "Reformists" were aligned with the Sith, why else would Skywalker and Tano have arrived right when the Sith attacked? Not only that but the Republic had once again betrayed their defenders, pulling back from the Sith onslaught and leaving countess thousands of Jedi to die in the chaos. His anger did not abate when the Senate had agreed to grant the Jedi emergency use of the GAR, far from it, he was going to make sure Sinube didn't get any ideas of further betrayal, but first he had to deal with a particular traitor. Opening the door of the cell, Windu entered, "CT-7567, are you aware of the extent of your betrayal?"

"I betrayed no one," CT-7567 spat, "My loyalty is to the _Republic_, not to you, and my _name_ is Rex!"

"You don't have a name anymore," Windu stated matter-of-factly, "you brought enemies of the Republic to its doorstep."

"They were trying to warn us about the threat _you ignored_."

"You are sentenced to execution for your crimes."

"There hasn't been a trial yet."

"And you won't get one."

"We were given rights-!"

"By the late Chancellor Skywalker, I know. Your rights have been suspended."

"You can't do that! The Senate decides my fate!"

"I am the Senate." With that, a flash of amethyst filled the room.


	16. Chapter 15: Execute Order 67

**A/N: I'm going to be completely honest here, I had started this story as a fun thought experiment, a minor hobby to waste time with when I didn't have schoolwork. That's all it ever was. So, when I see messages asking, "When are you going to update?" it doesn't kick me into gear, it discourages me. It reminds me of just how little time or creativity I have, and it makes this story feel less like a labor of love and more like a chore I have to get done or else people will be mad at me. I will finish it, but in my own time. I know I keep saying that, and it doesn't alleviate anybody, if anything it just pisses a lot of you off, but I am running on empty. I have tiny snippets I want to see happen but no way to get there. I'm trying, but I am limited. I have no more ideas, I am burnt out from my final semester at college, and home is a complete nightmare. I'm sorry.**

Windu marched up the steps of the Senate dome, robes flying about his body, hood pulled over his head. He knew what had to be done, even if he was the only one who knew it. In order to save the Republic, it had to be suspended, temporarily of course, reforged, improved upon. It was too far gone, crawling with Sith agents, Palpatine loyalists, Reformist sympathizers, and it was rotten to its core because of this. A Senate Commando tried to stop him but was immediately cut down by his lightsaber. Nothing would stop him from saving the burning world. Rebuilding it, better. Few commandos stood down as he ordered them, but he gave them their chance, if they refused then they were in league in the bad actors hell-bent on destroying the Republic and the Jedi. It was their own fault when they were cut down. Behind him, the 187th Legion marched in solid column formation, silent, masked, an all-encompassing aura of duty. They knew what must be done. After the emergency order by the Senate and the attack on Coruscant from both underground and off-world invasions, most complied with Windu's latest command and any who refused were either arrested or shot by their comrades. They had lost so many fellow soldiers in the Battle of the Temple, and when it was released that popular general and Clone War veteran Rex, who most legions still retained a quiet respect for, had fallen in the fighting, it swayed public opinion towards war once more, and the Senate placed Windu at the helm of the GAR. Windu finally had all he needed to save the Republic from itself. Now, it was time to purge the Senate of Sith sympathizers and Palpatine Loyalists. The men followed their general. Nearly the entire Senate was now under suspicion and was to be arrested or killed trying. They knew what had to be done, and kew what was to come the instant they heard the words "Execute Order 67."

Men, women, humans, aliens, Senators, servants, interns, screaming in terror or protest. These and blaster bolts, with the occasional lightsaber strike, sounded throughout the halls of the Senate as the Purge, the Final Purge, the True Purge, took place. In government buildings across the galaxy, in politicians' homes, in army barracks, the same sounds could be heard. A handful of Senators off-world at the time were able to escape, but few indeed. Senator Hera Syndulla sent a message of warning to her father Cham shortly after receiving the news that when she exited hyperspace around Ryloth a small fleet would be waiting to arrest her. Exiting hyperspace early she redirected her ship and fled toward the only place she knew would be out of the Republic's reach, at least for the moment, Mandalore. Chancellor Sinube stood in furious indignation and a twinge of fear as he was being led towards Windu, more than a few bodies on the floor, some seeming to have been lined up and executed on the spot, no trials, no evidence. His eyes met Mace's, hatred radiating from both. "Tera is spinning in his grave." The, now former, Chancellor was shoved against a wall, and one semi-courteous trooper offered him a blindfold. A single death glare from his general was all it took for the trooper to stand down. He heard the shots, and then black. Now, the Republic was Windu's to rebuild as he saw fit, as it truly needed.

Chuchi was playing with her new son, who Barriss and Aayla had brought back from their attempts to find Yoda. They had named him Minch, and anyone who met him instantly fell in love. She was singing a Pantoran children's song to the giggling toddler,

"_Oupa ry in sy ou Gord_  
_A-a-oo, A-a-oo, A-a-oo-oo-a_

_Hy lyk nes 'n regte Lord_  
_A-a-oo, A-a-oo, A-a-oo-oo-a_

_Ritte-tit, ritte-tit kyk die stof_  
_Ritte-tit o die pad is al te rof_  
_Ritte-tit, ritte-tit om die draai_  
_Ritte-tit, moenie by die deur uitwaai_

_Hoenders, eende uit die pad_  
_A-a-oo, A-a-oo, A-a-oo-oo-a_  
_Oupa ry in derde rat_  
_A-a-oo, A-a-oo, A-a-oo-oo-a"_

She eventually noticed Barriss out of the corner of her eye, she was smiling, leaning against the doorframe, glasses sitting on her nose cutely. Smiling back, she remarked, "It's been so long since I've held a baby." The new mothers shared a kiss and Riyo handed Barriss Minch, who immediately cooed and chittered in delight.

"Yes, I know you're having fun," Barriss cooed back, "But it's naptime. You can play with Mommy later." Bouncing Minch in her arms as she held him close to her chest, she carried the baby into a darkened room they had repurposed for him.

Riyo sank into the loveseat as she watched Barriss's hips sway into their baby's room. Nothing, no Sith warlord, no political rhetoric, no racists or homophobes, nothing could ruin this moment. No matter what she had her family, she had her wife, her two adoptive sons, and for the past few years she could honestly saw that she was finally, truly happy. When Barriss eventually came out and joined her, she leaned against the Jedi's shoulders and quietly muttered, "I love you."

"I love you too."

Ahsoka meanwhile was about ready to tear her hair out if she had any. Anakin Skywalker and Anakin Bonteri were both about to drive her insane for very different reasons. While her former Master was trying to drone on and on about possible preparations for war, all while tripping over himself and coming close to a complete breakdown, her son was in one of his moods and kept saying "Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? Mommy?"

"WHAT?!"

"I love you."

Sighing in an amused frustration she picked up her eight-year-old and hugged him tightly, "I love you too." Looking up at the holographic images of the other masters, she could see they were all trying not to think of their families. Even Master Ti had settled down with the clone Grievous chucked at her face all those years ago, ironically named Chuck.

"Can you think of anything else Obi-Wan?"

"A few thousand planets to rally against the Republic _and _the Sith?" Kenobi answered, half-seriously, "If Windu _somehow_ manages to interpret you two fighting the Sith as being part of them, then maybe we would be safe. We can't stand a chance otherwise. We'll have to go into hiding."

"Oh, right, so they hunt us down one by one," Kit Fisto remarked.

"It's our best chance of survival should anything happen," Aayla argued with her husband, hopefully adding, "Besides, maybe seeing how Skywalker and Tano fought to save the Temple managed to appease him, and he'll just leave us alone."

Master Koth entered the room, having skipped the first half of the emergency Council meeting. "I'm done."

"What?" Luminara asked in shock.

Without another word, Koth pulled up the holovid of Senator/Grand Master Windu's address to the Republic only hours before and turned round, making to leave the complex and go into hiding forever.

"_Fellow denizens of the Republic, it has now come to be self-evident that the Republic as it currently stands cannot withstand the internal and external threats it faces. Enemy armies came unopposed to our capital planet itself, only being driven off by the GAR after untold amounts of lives were taken and damage unleashed. Not only were these barbaric invaders unopposed until the bitter end, but they were aided by forces sheltered within the Republic, hiding in the Coruscant underground."_

"What?" Anakin asked in disbelief, "That isn't what happened at all!"

"Ani, hush!" Luminara quietly chastised.

"_As such,"_ Windu continued, _"I have been forced by a coalition of members of the Senate to see an end to these treasonous forces within our very government, and have been granted emergency powers, which I accept reluctantly and will relinquish at the first opportunity."_

"Well, this doesn't sound familiar at all," Obi-Wan muttered in his typical sarcasm.

"_The Republic suffered thousands of deaths during the assault on our homes, I lost a great many people, Jedi and non-Jedi alike, who I had grown to call friends. Men and women, soldiers and officers of the Republic, whose families have been left behind to deal with the tragic loss of their loved ones. No less than five thousand people, men, women, and children have been counted among the dead, among them several veterans of the Clone War, including General Rex of the 501__st__ Legion." _

"No," Ahsoka barely whispered.

"_This horrific attack can only be seen as a declaration of war by this new Sith Empire, and their allies both here and on Teth. I swear to you that we shall not stop, we shall not rest until every last traitor and every last Sith in the galaxy have been hunted down and eradicated. My first act as Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic will be to declare a week of mourning for the fallen, and then we prepare for war. I would not ask any citizen of the Republic to do anything I personally would not, and as such I will be both commander-in-chief and general on the ground with the men in white. I assure you; I am not another Palpatine and any seemingly extreme measures taken will be only temporary. Our democratic institutions have been the foundations of our society for millennia, and have always held firm, no matter the threat. Now, just as before, we will not let Sith Imperialism encroach upon our very doorstep, we will not allow those motivated by greed to sell our Republic into a thousand years of slavery again. We will stand strong, and we will emerge victorious in this war, a war to bring an end to all war in this galaxy. Together we will drive the invaders back to the pathetic rock they call home and do to them what they have done to billions of others."_

Windu drones on and on, he had certainly mastered that element of politics, the art of using a great many words to say nothing at all. Yet, the only thing the Council heard was "War" and "Teth." Wordlessly agreeing, the Council knew at once that their taste of freedom and happiness had past, Anakin sent out the order to all Reformist Jedi to flee, sell their belongings and take their families into hiding. Abandon the Complex, await further instruction. They had drafted the holo decades ago, hoping and praying that they would never have to use it, most of the Council remained the same, a few different faces, even their own were far different. Voss was still alive then. Anakin nodded at the rest of the Council, and then pressed the button, a singular tear rolling down his right cheek as he did so.

Gràinne had been meditating to try and coax the spirit of Plagueis to give her the secret to healing her child, granting her eternal life, yet he seemed reluctant to tell her, their prophesied Sith'ari, what he knew. What possible reasoning he could have she did not know or care. "Plagueis," she coaxed, "You knew of the Sith'ari, you saw evidence that it was I, yet you refuse to grant me this one desire."

"For a Sith to want immortality, not for herself, but for another. It is..." the ghostly figure paused, trying to find the proper word to convey the irony of the situation, "odd. My former apprentices both saw my research as a waste of time, a waste of our power, as I could not grant immortality to myself-"

"I don't care," was all she had to say on the matter, "Teach it to me, now."

"I can give you the ability to save her body, but it may or may not save her mind, as you seek.

"_NOW," _the Empress demanded.

"As you wish," reaching out to her, the phantom of the Muun touched his ethereal fingers to her forehead, and they meditated, knowledge pouring from the vessel that was Darth Plagueis the Wise into Darth Serpeness, Empress of Talamh. "What I discovered was that the Dark Side could not give the gifts I sought. It required knowledge of the Light and twisting it into forms _unnatural_. To service me. To service, _us._"

"Show me, Plagueis, Master of Eternal Life, Conqueror of Death."

"Not Conqueror. Cheater. To conquer death is a power I was never truly able to discover, but to cheat it, mayhaps for millennia, that is the true Secret of Plagueis."

Bursting into her daughter's chamber and utterly terrifying the maids who cared for Aislinn, Gràinne looked deep into her child's vacant eyes. Eyes which just months before were full of joy and love, if irritation with her mother's insistence to study the Sith arts instead of taking the vows as she wanted, were now completely blank. She held back her tears, there would be plenty of time for much happier ones in a few hours. "Aislinn? Do you know who I am?" Aislinn's face was blank, then turned aggressive as she bit her mother's right hand, hard, drawing blood as her fangs dug into the skin. A short cry from the sudden pain later and Gràinne was prepared to finally heal her little baby. First, she knocked her out with a minor Force push on the brain. No lasting damage at all, barely even a concussion, a minor tap against the skull to slip her into unconsciousness. She looked down at her daughter's form, resting. Like nothing were wrong. Soon, nothing would be. She had slaughtered billions on her way to achieve this goal, from the Unification Wars, to Zygeria, to Coruscant, and she laid her hands on her baby's head, cradling her into her lap. Aislinn looked so peaceful. Closing her eyes, Gràinne began to meditate and her hands, much like Barriss's all those years ago in her husband's hospital room, began to glow blue.

Leia and Mina were wailing on one another in their duel, lightsaber blades clashing and bathing the courtyard in light. While Leia was taking up more Jedi duties and in particular helping to train her youngest sibling, Mina had just gotten hired on at the cafe they frequented, and Mina wanted to celebrate with a bit of sparring. Locking sabers with her opponent, she glanced over to where Jinn was sitting, meditating. _"Seriously?" _she thought, _"He's not paying the slightest bit of attention?! I wore a skirt this short specifically for him!"_

Taking advantage of Mina's lapse in attention, Leia swept her legs out from under her, which caused Mina to tuck and roll as Leia brought her blade crashing down into the ground. As the Togruta-Human woman leapt to her feet, slashing at Leia's head as her saber was down. Quickly turning the parry, Leia took Mina by surprise with a Force Push that sent her careening into Jinn, knocking the wind from both of them as a handful of masters who were watching them chuckled.

Jinn, trying his absolute hardest not to say or do anything stupid as Mina was currently laying on top of him, felt his commlink vibrate on his wrist. Much to his surprise, he saw that his father had shaved his beard. "What?" He called out, "Hey, Sis! Come here! Dad shaved!"

The two women immediately dropped their duel, and came towards him, having never even seen Anakin without a beard at any point in their lives save the occasional holo or recent history lesson, "What?"

"_This is Master Anakin Skywalker of the Jedi Council on Teth. My co-Councilors, Kit Fisto, Obi-Wan, Quinlan Voss, Eeth Koth, and Luminara Unduli,"_

"Oh wow, this holo is ancient!"

"Shut up!" Leia chastised.

"_have collectively decided that Teth is no longer safe for us. The Coruscant Jedi have made it clear that they intend to exterminate us for our way of life. We can't stay here. I implore you all, take your families and go into hiding. We will communicate any further action later, when it is safe to do so. Go, now. We don't have much time. Flee for your lives and those of your loved ones. Until then, seek shelter from anyone you can trust. When next we come into contact our Order may be on the brink of extinction. May the Force be with us all."_

The next several hours were a blur of panicked packing and scrambling, thousands of Jedi grabbing their bags, their spouses, and their children to flee in terror. A Twi'lek toddler was sitting in the middle of it all crying for her parents as Leia tried to comfort her. Jinn chucked Spleens into her carrier, despite the Loth-cat's protests, and helped the Bonteris pack their shuttle, he and Mina both trying and failing to say the words they both wished to speak and hear. Ahsoka desperately hugged Anakin and Barriss, for what may have been the last time they would ever see each other alive.

"Obi-Wan and Satine are going to hide on Mandalore," Anakin said, "We'll try and find out if my step-brother on Tatooine is still alive. What are you two going to do?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, for now we're just going to find Petro, then get him and Minch as far away from Republic space as possible," Barriss replied.

Ahsoka hadn't even thought that far ahead, "I don't know," she muttered, barely holding back her tears, repeating "I don't know, we just need to get into hyperspace now."

"Force be with you Ahsoka," Barriss attempted to comfort.

"And with you both."

The trio boarded their vessels with their families and took off, abandoning the world they had called home for twenty years.

All across the galaxy, Republic stormtroopers were breaking in and burning down any Reformist-owned properties, killing Jedi, their friends, their families, even the children who their Jedi generals declared as "too old" to be incorporated into the True Order. The galaxy's denizens cheered them on for it. What relatively few clones were still left alive and refused to comply were immediately retired, imprisoned, and/or "disappeared" under "mysterious" circumstances. Windu extinguished his amethyst blade as he stood over the mutilated body of a clone who called himself "Echo," and motioned for the troopers to fan out, scour Coruscant for any more traitors.

"Yessir!" the soldiers obeyed, immediately departing the residence of the dead clone and his executed or imprisoned family.

Windu walked through the house, setting his commlink on the dining room table, pushing the highchair aside with the Force. Four blue holograms of Jedi came up, their faces covered by their hoods, cloaked and armored forms dressed in black with double-bladed sabers at both hips. "Shadows, what have you found?"

"The planned hiding places of no less than three dozen Schismatics," one, a Mirialan female with diamond tattoos trailing down her cheeks like tears, responded, "Including the traitors Skywalker and Unduli."

"Good. You will personally assemble a team to go after them and see to it that they are brought to justice. I want the rest of you to keep searching. I want them found, all of them."

"As you wish, Master," the Mirialan, a recently knighted padawan of his, replied in obedience before the transmission was cut off. Windu eyed the scorch marks on the walls as if they were the most interesting things in the galaxy, the internal threats had to be neutralized before the external ones could be brought to their knees.

Two days. That was how long Gràinne had been kneeling beside her child, nurses and Séamus came in every few hours, unnoticed, to place water and honey on both sets of lips to keep the pair hydrated and fed. Gràinne had never seen such complex systems as the nerve endings in a Togruta/human hybrid brain before in her life, but the phantoms of Plagueis and Dooku guided her hands as she worked on her daughter's mind. Finally, the light emitting from her hands dimmed, they were almost... done. The mother came out of her trance and gently nudged her daughter, trying to wake her.

"Mmm... Mam?"

"Aislinn?"

"Mam?" Aislinn's eyes widened in sudden panic, "Where am I?! What's going on?!"

Gràinne simply hugged her daughter, "You're ok, you're safe. You're safe and you're well."

"Mam, I-"

"Ye want to be a nun, I know, and I'm fine with it. All I care about is that ye're healthy. My sweet baby girl."

Now Aislinn was confused, "Who are you and what have you done with my mum?"

Gràinne simply laughed, bringing nurses and guards to storm the room, shocked at the sudden liveliness of their Empress. "I couldn't be happier. I love you, Aislinn."

"I love you too Mam."

"Uhm, E-Empress?" a pit droid beckoned, "My deepest apologies for disturbing you,"

"Unless we're being attacked it can wait!"

"That's just it, milady. The Republic has declared war."

Gràinne's smile immediately dropped, and Serpeness replaced her helmet, "So be it. I want every scrap of information you can find, and bring me the prisoners, roughed up but alive!" with this order she turned to leave her daughter's room, spirit still leaping for joy at her healing but hampered slightly by the news of an impending attack. She was shown the public-frequency holo her spies had transmitted to Talamh of Windu's announcement. "Hm. So the Jedi morons have decided to build themselves an empire out of the ashes of their Republic. I fail to see why they would attack me though, considering I saved them from their former would-be dictator."

"As you say, my Empress, they are nothing but morons," a sycophantic follower replied.

"I do not pay you to grovel and be my echo, Duke Angus of House Stuart."

"Erm... y-y-you don't pay me at all."

Ignoring his comment, "Assemble the Dark Council, or what's left of it. Have the election results come in yet?"

"All but one seat is filled Your Majesty. A seemingly unbreakable tie."

"No matter, that is more than enough. If Windu sees the breakaway Jedi as our allies, then it is time to make this mythical alliance real."

"Yes, my Empress."

Empress Serpeness turned to leave for her chambers, "I must meditate. See if any spies can contact the Jedi Schismatics."

"Were you not meditating the past two days, Milady? We need your guidance now more than-" the Duke immediately felt pressure on his throat. His eyes widened as he struggled to breathe, trying desperately to get in even a single breath. Falling to his knees he looked up desperately at his Empress, clutching his throat.

She turned to face him, revealing herself as the reason he was being strangled, with only her forefinger and thumb coming ever closer together, "You are not to question me, or my methods. Is that clear, Duke?" Releasing him she turned away, receiving a salute from her guards and returning it in kind.

Ahsoka watched the Skywalker and Offee-Chuchi family shuttles go into hyperspace, little Anakin in her husband's lap as she tried to figure out where to program the navi-computer. Shaking her head, everywhere she could think of would surely be swarmed by the Republic forces by the time they got there, their home on Onderon likely already burned to the ground. Punching in random coordinates just to get away from Teth before it was inevitably attacked. As the stars stretched into beams of light giving way to the blue waves of hyperspace, she got up to meditate in her and Lux's quarters. Ï don't know what to do, or where to go. Please, help." She closed her eyes and completely gave herself in to the Force.

"Gràinne." She said simply, opening her eyes to find her sister sitting across from her on the opposite end of the galaxy.

"Ahsoka."

Ashoka wanted to scream at her, try to hit her with her lightsabers if that was even possible, she hated her with every fiber of her being. If it wasn't for Gràinne none of them would be in this mess right now, but all she could say was "Did you get what you wanted?"

"Aye."

"Do you know how much it cost us?"

"Everything, and for that I'm truly sorry."

"No, you're not."

"You're right. I'm not. Mostly because it would have happened anyway. Really Ahsoka you need to stop trying to blame me for all your problems."

"You led the attack on the Temple! You attacked Coruscant, not me! Why should I be punished for everything you do?!"

"Why did you help me? Why were you on Coruscant that day at all? We both wanted Palpatine dead, we both thought it would leave the galaxy at peace, and we all could go about our lives. That didn't happen. But thanks in no small part to you, your niece is alive and well."

"And now Windu thinks we're allies and is trying to massacre us to try and get at you."

"Like he needed a reason? If my spies are correct, he was looking to peg anything and everything on ye."

Ahsoka lowered her gaze.

"We need not be adversaries, sister."

"Don't call me that."

"Fine, but whatever I call ye won't change the truth. Like it or not we're siblings." She tried to probe into Ahsoka's mind, taking minor advantage of the lapse in her Force Shields, "You haven't told your kids about their dearest auntie? Have ye?"

"Leave them out of this!"

"Fine. Just know that I offer shelter, to you and any Jedi who wants to run. Windu wants to think we're allies, fine. We can be allies."

Ahsoka simply scowled.

Gràinne, however, smiled. "You know the coordinates. I'm sure we _both_ have much to learn."

The connection broke off, leaving Ahsoka to simply question what Gràinne meant by her final statement, "'We both have much to learn.'"

She reentered the main cockpit, finding that Lux and Anakin had left, but Mina was sitting in his seat watching hyperspace go by. "Mom? Where are going to go?"

"Mina," Ahsoka paused, closing her eyes and swallowing her pride, "_Kriff, I'm going to regret this. I just know it... but it's all I've got." _She looked back up at her daughter, "It's about time I introduced you to your aunt."

Djarin Kenobi awoke in his bunk at the Mandalorian Academy. His peers singled him out for his parentage, but it mattered little to him. Of course, they drew on his face while he slept. Kriffing permanent marker too. As he scrubbed one his larger bunkmates, shoved him aside, "Hey Jedi, your parents are wanted criminals now!"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Playing the holo as they shoved him around, Djarin was kicked in the gut and fell to his knees, the wind knocked out of him as he heard his parents be declared traitors to the Republic, which Mandalore was _never_ a part of so their status in the Republic shouldn't even matter, but all that these bullies were concerned with was another reason to beat on him. He was going to graduate next semester anyway, and be free of these idiotic meatheads. Probably try to ask out that cute redheaded girl he had had his eye on for the past months at graduation. He felt a boot in the back of his skull.

"Come on Jedi, what kind of Mandalorian doesn't know how to fight?!"

"Come on Jedi!"

"Come on Jedi!"

"He's as much of a coward as his mom is!"

"Come on Jedi!"

He knew better than to fight back. Fighting outside of drills was strictly forbidden, if also encouraged. During drills? No limits, not even killing and maiming were really off the table.


	17. Chapter 16: Shelter in Shadow

Naboo had erupted into total revolution after the latest Purges. Republic offices were bombed, officials dragged out of their homes and beaten to death, other hung from lampposts. Republic barracks, once whole-heartedly supported in the Clone War, were in a scrambled chaotic frenzy to keep from being overrun by Naboo civilians and local traitors within their own ranks. The Queen and the Naboo Royal Guard provided open support for the rebellion, openly declaring Naboo to be an Imperial-aligned world, having turned against Coruscant's increasingly perceived illegitimate government. Reformist Jedi, neo-Separatists, and the Imperial sympathizers all saw an enemy in Chancellor Windu. A Republic fleet entered orbit around Naboo, bringing reinforcements to squash the rebels before their treason spread across the galaxy and reignited separatist sentiments which began the Clone War. The Royal Starfighters attempted to harass the fleet, but the losses were insurmountable for the rebels, but one Republic transport vessel was severely damaged

Admiral Yularen kept a close eye on the surrounding space. He was far more used to fighting massive set-piece space battles as opposed to using his sizeable navy against a small squadron of fighters. "Scramble the fighters, I want them kept as far away from our transports as possible."

"Sir, it's just small fighters. Our flak guns can handle them."

"I once fought with Skywalker. I am more than aware of what small fighters are capable of, _Lieutenant._ I suggest following your orders before you cause any more men to be killed!"

"Yessir."

The fighters were eventually destroyed or driven planet side. Sending a squadron out behind the moons to ensure there wasn't a fleet, Yularen turned to his officers, "Send in the reinforcements!" LAAT gunships and the new Theta-Class Barges carried the assault force to the surface. Hopefully with a show of force they could get the Queen to see reason. He wouldn't hold his breath, but he could hope.

Naboo Guard and armed civilians held positions behind blockades, pushing out Republic infantry. They had even managed to commandeer an AT-TE from a Republic base in Theed, a base now left in smoldering ruins by the initial riots. "Come on! We've almost got them!" one guard called to his siblings-in-arms before being shot down by blue Republic blaster bolts. Attempting to out-maneuver the attackers, a Jedi Schismatic and her padawan led a team of guerrillas to put pressure on the right flank.

"Fall back! Fall back!"

"Charge!"

"Help us!"

The rebellion's victory seemed certain as the Republic infantry continued to retreat from the palace. Then the skies darkened as transport ships flew overhead coming to land just outside the city. Seeing their promised help finally come at last, the Republic soldiers broke into homes and businesses to take shelter before the cavalry arrived.

"Padawan! Take the left side of the street, I'll take the right!"

"Yes Master!"

The pair deflected bolts away from their soldiers as they started to sweep the street of Republic filth. Slicing through men to protect their own lives as well as those of the Naboo and Gungan soldiers who had agreed to shelter them, the battle was brought to a halt as the sound rang through the air.

_CLING-CLING-CLING_

_STOMP_

_CLING-CLING-CLING_

_STOMP_

_CLING-CLING-CLING_

_STOMP_

_CLING-CLING-CLING_

_STOMP_

Looking up, the rebel morale instantly fell through the ground, the rumored replacement for the AT-TE had just been deployed for the first time. Three AT-AT Republic walkers and their accompaniment of six AT-STs and battalion of stormtroopers took the streets back almost immediately Blaster fire still peppered the area until the AT-ATs unleashed fire and fury into Theed's little rebellion and the stormtroopers broke into the palace, bringing the Queen into their custody.

In the middle of it all, the flaming wreckage, the padawan feebly crawled out of the flames, hacking from the smoke. He couldn't feel his legs, he wasn't sur if they were even there anymore. He just had to crawl to where he saw his master lay. He wouldn't let them get her. He couldn't allow it. He felt a swift kick to his chest, sending him reeling. He coughed violently from the hit, laying helpless on his back. His legs were long gone; he was bleeding out. He looked up to see a slender Mirialan woman coming towards him, slamming her boot on his neck. She kneeled to his level and sneered, "Don't worry _Sithspawn_, you'll be out of your misery soon enough." Igniting one of her blue and green double-bladed sabers, she freed his head from his body.

"Septa!" a commando trooper called, bringing up a communicator, "Urgent message from your fellow Shadows."

"Good. I'll take it in my ship. Clean up this mess, will you?"

"Yes, Mistress Septa." Dammit she turned him on with that silky voice. Too bad she was a Jedi. "You heard the Shadow men! Bring up every last rebel left in the city! Line them up!"

Once she entered her ship, she brought up the holograms of her fellow shadows, most so strict as to never even remove their helmets in view of other shadows. She was orthodox, but not that Orthodox. "Have you all received my assignment?"

"Yes, Shadow Septa," Bil Valen replied, "We await you at the rendezvous point."

"Sorry, got a little distracted with a small rebellion Ion Naboo. Within the week, that traitor Skywalker will be ours."

Serpeness studied a holocron created by Darth Nihilus, listening intently to his philosophy. It intrigued her, even if she found it utterly ridiculous in the end. A morbid fascination never hurt anyone, and it wasn't as if the ancient Sith Lord had nothing of value to teach, a living wound in the Force was a subject worthy of itself after all. She listened to his voice, his early voice before he was totally consumed by and became the full embodiment of the Dark Side:

"_I am the Darkness in which all life dies._

_All life exists, simply to sacrifice itself to me._

_To feed my power. I hunger for power._

_I CRAVE IT!_

_I care not for the Ways of the Sith,_

_Nor the Teachings of the Jedi._

_These are the words of Darth Nihilus, Lord of Hunger._

_To exist is to gather power._

_Hunger for power is all that life provides._

_The only purpose in my eternal life is to consume every ounce of energy I find."_

Rolling her eyes, she skipped the introduction that she may as well have memorized at this point. She was considering trying to rediscover how to create a holocron herself, an art lost for the past few thousand years even by the Jedi. No need to go out 0of her way to discover the secret of course, not yet at least.

"_The secrets of the Force are innumerable,_

_Immeasurable,_

_Monstrous,_

_But the ability to drain a life form of its connection to the living Force-"_

"Ugh," she groaned, "already learned it."

_SKIP._

Honestly at this point she was wondering why she had bothered getting this holocron if she already knew everything it had to teach.

"_These lead to the mysteries I study today, the True Language of the Force."_

"Ooh, this sounds interesting."

Interesting though this section may be, she was honestly glad that he was _not_ among those who she retained as phantoms of the Force; this utter lunatic was terrifying even by her standards. She sensed the presence of an acolyte. Ah, Bur. Fanatically loyal, it was truly a shame he wasn't Force-sensitive. Closing the holocron, she heard the doors open behind her and the slow footsteps of her humble servant. He kneeled before her and awaited her acknowledgement. "Yes?"

"My Empress," he began, "You sister has arrived."

She smiled, "Excellent. I will be down in but a moment."

Ahsoka kept her family close, every pair of eyes scanning the dark-armored soldiers who escorted them into the palace. Apparently Gràinne had taken an affinity to the architectural styles of their people as the parapets were modelled after Togruta montrals, but instead of the soft pastels typical in Togrutan tradition, the palace retained a darker, twisted aesthetic. Ashen stone lined the form, with a plethora of murderholes and machicolations lining the outer walls, and disruptor turrets fixed to the positions. Automatically powered heavy doors and simple defenses as a moat, a unique blend of galactic and Talamh traditions. Cold steel beams and copper wire held the frame of the montral-shaped towers aloft, giving it a sickly, metallic sheen. A large door at the end of the hall began to open, snapping all attention to it. Ahsoka took a nervous swallow as she watched, descending an onyx stairway, the armored form of her sister coming closer to her husband and children, who she tried to shepherd behind her. Of course, Mina was as steadfast as she was and decided to stare down thi9s stranger. No telling she was _her_ daughter, not a bit.

"Sister," was all Gràinne said. Removing her helm to reveal her face to her extended family, "These must be your children." Daytarn and little Anakin were shocked, with the latter looking back and forth between his mother and his aunt. "Aww, you never told me I had such cute nephews."

Ahsoka wasn't sure what to say or do.

"Come on now, Ahsoka, surely you can still talk?"

"We aren't here to be friendly Gràinne. I wouldn't have come to you unless I had no other choice."

Gràinne smiled, "Well, we can at least be happy for a family reunion. Darth Iustitia?"

The Jawa Sith Poblithes revealed himself from the shadows, "Master?"

"Show them to the rooms I prepared for them." She turned to her sister and niece, "Don't worry, you'll love the view of Beauly Firth."

Mina whispered to her mom, "You never mentioned that our aunt was a Sith."

"I don't like to think about her at all, we're only here because we have no other choice."

Anakin tugged at her hand, his lekku were starting to develop into more than just nubs, "Mommy? When can we go home?"

Ahsoka held back tears, "I don't know baby. Soon."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Mina was trying to settle into her new quarters, but she couldn't shake the all-encompassing darkness of the place. "Mom said it's only temporary," she muttered, quietly trying to reassure herself from the fact that her estranged aunt was apparently not only a Sith but an Empress. The same Empress she had heard demolished Zygeria and attacked Coruscant. Would that make her, royalty? If it did, what kind of family legacy is that? Conquest and genocide? Did Sith even _do_ royal families or was it strictly Master and Apprentice? Was the Jawa guy her who led her to her room the apprentice or just an assassin? What she wouldn't give to have Jinn with her right now, he could make sense of at least some of this stuff. Well, among other reasons she wanted Jinn with her. She looked around her room; it felt more like a cell if she was being honest with herself, and the dark stone did not help matters, no matter how big the windows were the light seemed to just evaporate into nothing. A knock at the door. "Who is it?"

"The Empress's daughter," came a feminine voice.

"_What?!" _Mina thought, shocked at just how many relatives she never knew she had.

"Well, what do you want?"

"It gets cold up here. I was sent to help you get a fire going."

"Uhm, sure? Come in."

Opening the heavy oaken door, Aislinn stepped into the room which harbored her eldest cousin wearing a black and white vestment with a crucifix about her neck. She hadn't yet taken the vows, she still had time before it was official, but she saw no harm in practicing. She was a tad perplexed for a moment, having never seen someone else who was half-human and half-Togruta. Then she saw the lightsaber at her hip and lowered her gaze, going towards the fireplace.

"Hey, you said you're the Empress's daughter?"

"Aye," Aislinn replied, setting the pine logs and tinder just right.

"Well, I guess I'm your cousin."

"I know."

"Well, aren't you talkative," Mina replied in a joking tone.

"Sorry. I've just never felt comfortable around Sith who are not my mother."

"I am _not _a Sith!" Mina spat, instinctively venomous before realizing she was being a tad more aggressive than she should have been. "Sorry. I'm a Jedi."

Aislinn dropped everything in her arms and stood shaking like a leaf, "Y-y-you're one of those slavers? The ones who kidnap children away from their families?"

"What?! No! No, no, we're Reformed Jedi, we wanted to get away from all of that. The ones you're thinking of... wait, slavers?"

"Aye, that's what Uncle Dooku always told us about ye."

"Who? We have an uncle now?"

Aislinn giggled, remembering her mother's old Master fondly as she gathered her flint and steel from the floor, "Well, maybe not by blood. He was the previous Emperor. My mam's teacher. I loved him like he was my grandfather. He died not too long ago."

"I'm... sorry, for your loss."

"Well, it was his time. 104 years old, after all. Nothing much we could have done about it, and he wanted to go." Damn this flint, it never wanted to spark.

"Right. So, why don't you feel right around Sith then? You clearly loved this Uncle Dooku and I assume you love your mom, right?"

"Aye."

"So, are you an apprentice to her? Or that Jawa guy?"

Aislinn paused, "No."

"Oh, are you not Force-sensitive?"

She went back to trying to get the fire to start as if it was suddenly the most interesting thing in the galaxy.

"Sorry."

"Not... your... fault... ACH! FECK IT!" Aislinn let loose a small surge of lightning into the tinder, causing Mina to jump back in alarm and instinctively grab her lightsaber. Panting, she stayed kneeling by the embers, blowing into them to make them into a roaring flame. "I just don't have any interest in it is all. Me mam was upset, but ever since I got over my sickness, she couldn't be happier no matter my path."

"You were sick? With what?"

"Don't know. All I know is that I couldn't remember anything anymore, couldn't even recognize my own parents." She shook her head, "Everything was a jumbled mess in my head. Couldn't figure out if I was nineteen or seven some days. I saw and heard people who had been dead for years, couldn't get a thought straight. All I knew was that I was terrified every day. Then Mam figured out some ancient Sith Magic and pieced everything back together again."

"That sounds... awful. I didn't know people could get dementia that young."

"Is that what it's called?"

"Yeah. You said your mom healed you from it?"

"Aye. Some weird blend of Dark and Light Sith teaching she said. Good with a smidge o' the evil. Uhm, no offense."

"None taken?"

"So... what's she like?"

"Mam?"

"Yeah."

"Sweetest woman alive she is. I'm lucky to call her my mother." It was true, she really loved her mother, and the feeling was obviously returned. "I want to do her proud, I do, but since..." she stopped herself. She barely knew about this woman and she wasn't willing to disclose _that, _not something she hadn't even told her mum about.

"Since what?"

"Nothing," she replied defensively, "it doesn't concern ye. But I do love me mum, and I owe her my life in more ways than one, nothing can change that."

"Even with everything? All the innocent people she's killed?"

Aislinn surprised Mina by laughing in her face, "I don't believe that for a second! Aye some people died trying to make slaves of us, but slavers deserve it. Deepest pits o' Hell are reserved for them." Honestly, her mother wouldn't hurt a fly that was innocent, what kind of lies were the Jedi filling this poor girl's head with?

"Mum will probably send a Lord or maybe even a Darth to come get ye for supper."

"A Darth? I thought there were only supposed to be two?"

Now it was Aislinn's turn to be confused, "What the... why would there be only two?"

Mina shrugged, "What I was always told about Sith.

Aislinn just shook her head in disbelief, "Ach, ye sweet summer chile," and left the room, suppessing a chuckle. Mina could still hear her at the end of the hall, "Two! Two Sith! Bwhahahaha!"


	18. Chapter 17: Dark Knight

"Please," Anakin begged, no less than seven people behind him, "Owen, we have nowhere else to go. I understand if you don't want to get on the wrong side of Republic law, but the Republic's hold on Tatooine is flimsy,"

"For the moment," Owen Lars clarified, "There's been an increase in patrols the past few weeks."

"It will only be temporary, until we find somewhere else to hide."

Owen looked over at Beru, who smiled glumly. He sighed, "Alright, I suppose it's the least I can do. You are my step-brother after all."

Anakin smiled, truly smiled for the first time since they had gone on the run, "Thanks! Thank you, Owen! I promise we'll do everything we can to help out."

"But if you get caught, here, in my home, I _don't know you_ and never have. You're just new employees I offered room and board to. Understood?"

"Wouldn't have it any other way."

"Come on in, I suppose we'll have to find you some room. We weren't expecting seven people moving in."

"Sorry it's come on so unexpectedly," Luminara interjected, holding Cocaine the cat, "We promise, we'll be as out of the way as possible."

"Of course," Owen Lars made room for the family to enter but stopped Anakin. He was curious as he remembered the last time Anakin had paid him a visit, decades ago. "Hey, what ever happened to that other girl you were seeing? A Senator, right? Those older two kids look nothing like your wife. Were they hers?"

Anakin's eyes darkened and he looked away, "Padmé died. While they were infants. They never knew her."

Owen pressed his lips together, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It was Palpatine who killed her, not you."

Owen nodded in sympathy, Tatooine may have been out of the loop in terms of galactic events but even they had heard about the ex-Chancellor. With that, he went to introduce himself to his sister-in-law and his nieces and nephews.

"Djarin Kenobi! Darr Viszla! Cret Abong!" the headmaster called, "You three will be sparring today!"

Djarin looked down in defeat, of course it was against them. The two biggest bullies in the entire Academy, both in size and aggression, and he was pitted against them. He saw the two boys smile at one another, knowing they were going to team up to try and beat him to a pulp, maybe even kill him. He slowly walked towards the ring, the entire Academy was watching this, their "final exam" of sorts. He saw the red-haired girl sitting towards the front. She smiled at him.

As he smiled back, he heard the instructor call, "Go!" and was immediately punched in the face by Cret. Falling flat on his back from the force of the blow, he tried to roll away but was kicked in the gut by Darr. He couldn't breathe as the pair immediately wailed on him, much to the amusement of his classmates and instructors.

"Come on Prince Kenobi! Show your Jedi tricks!" Darr jeered at him; the rest of the class all laughed as they watched, waiting on their turns to fight and prove themselves worthy of graduating, of being called Mandalorian.

Djarin tasted blood, he couldn't breathe, everything was turning black. He wasn't afraid of dying if he was being honest, no Mandalorian fears death. He was, however, outraged at the unfairness of it all. He had always been singled out by his peers, and his teachers, for his bloodline. Always pummeling him to remind him of the fact that he wasn't special, as if he didn't know that?! Even his instructors had encouraged the bullying towards him when they went out of their way to bend over backwards for anybody named Viszla, especially Darr, or even just try to stop any physical assaults outside of designated training times. It wasn't his fault his dad was a Jedi, or that his mom was a former duchess! He never would have chosen that himself!

Darr Viszla was sitting on his chest while Cret held his arms down, repeatedly slamming his fists into Djarin's face, "Come on Kenobi! I thought Jedi would fight back!"

"_Alright,"_ Djarin thought,_ "he wants Jedi tricks?"_

Suddenly, Darr felt his throat begin to close. Cret's eyes also started to bug out as the pair released their punching bag, grabbing at their necks to try and get rid of whatever was strangling them. Pushing Darr off of him, Djarin hobbled to his feet, swaying a bit, but always holding his hand in an open, but slowly closing grip. That was when Darr began to levitate off the ground. That was when he and Cret pieced it together. Maybe they shouldn't have beckoned Djarin to use his Jedi powers.

Djarin used his free hand to wipe the blood pouring out of his mouth, "You want me to fight like a Jedi?!" he shouted, slamming his bullies into the ground hard enough to leave cracks in the duracrete around their bodies, and lifting them again, slamming them into every wall he could find, making sure to break every single bone in their bodies. "Fine. Here's a little trick I learned from watching Master Skywalker!" In a single, swift motion he closed and twisted his fist, instantly crushing all of their limbs and severing their spinal cords, letting the barely living bodies flop to the ground. All around him was pure silence. Not even bothering to look at anyone, not even the red-haired girl, he turned and left the Mandalorian Academy, or at least tried until he collapsed on the ground just outside the gates.

The instructor nodded, making a note on his scorecard. "Unconventional, but effective. B+."

The Lars family table was completely surrounded by the new residents as Beru and Luminara placed breakfast on the table. Of them, only Anakin knew a thing about moisture farming, but it was still a productive day nonetheless, one of the best Owen and Beru had had in years. That Jinn boy was a fast learner, and Owen wouldn't admit it verbally, but it warmed his heart to discover his namesake nephew. Owen Skywalker politely replied, "Thank you mom, Aunt Beru."

"Our pleasure sweetheart," Beru Lars replied, taking a seat at the crowded table next to her husband.

"In the morning I'll need to run down to Mos Espa to pick up some power converters."

"I can do that!" Jinn offered but was shot down by Anakin.

"No Jinn, your uncle will need help with the evaporators. I remember Mos Espa well enough, I can get them after we eat."

Owen the Elder smirked, while Owen the Younger was confused, "You remember Mos Espa?"

Anakin looked back down at his breakfast as if it were the most interesting thing in the galaxy, muttering a gruff, "I grew up there. I don't like talking about it."

Zotue asked, "Does it have anything to do with those graves outside?"

Anakin's breath caught in his throat. He heard the Tuskens screaming in terror as he rampaged through their village all those years ago. He still held firmly to the belief that they fully deserved it for what they did to his mother, but that didn't make it any easier to accept what he had done. Taking a swig of his water, he replied, "I will tell you this once, and only once. Do you understand?"

Every pair of eyes in his children's skulls went wide; was Dad actually going to talk about growing up?

"My mother, Shmi, and I... were slaves. I was owned by the Hutt Gardula. She lost us in a bet to a Toydarian junk trader named Watto, who whipped me every. Single. Day. For the smallest of offenses. I still have the implant in my spinal cord, where if I ever left without his permission it would explode." Even Luminara hadn't known that, as she had assumed the scar on his neck was from a battle or some injury as a Padawan.

"It's deactivated but still sits there as a reminder. It _can't_ come out. He lost me in a bet with a Jedi named Qui-Gon Jinn."

Jinn now realized the reason he had his name.

"But he couldn't get my mother, and the Jedi Council refused to even try to buy her freedom because all they cared about was the Senate. She died ten years later, after she was kidnapped, raped, and tortured by Tuskens. So yes, Shmi, that grave out there with your name on it, is your grandmother. I had to bury her on the planet that took _everything_ from us. It's one of an infinite number of reasons why I hate this dustball and never wanted to come back to it for the rest of my life."

"Ani..." Luminara tried to console him. She knew he was a slave, but he had never shared any details out of him, and especially not about what happened to the late Shmi Skywalker. She probably wouldn't have even known he had been a slave if she hadn't gotten it out of Ahsoka after some pressing.

"No," Anakin retorted, "It's all in the past." Deep within the confines of his skull, the Tusken children cried for their mothers while he massacred them. Quickly scarfing down the food, he stood, leaving for the door, "I'll pick up the power converters now. Nespvi, you and Zotue can get the dishes when everyone's done."

"Yes Daddy," Nespvi replied diligently.

Zotue was still too stunned to speak, only nodding silently.

Septa landed the Republic shuttle in the Dune Sea, 9 klicks from the port of Mos Espa. Sealing her helmet, she took Bil Valen and a third Shadow named Trilla Suduri with her, alongside seven stormtroopers and two flametroopers. They would search Mos Espa first before spreading to other cities across the desert planet. In orbit three _Venator_-class star destroyers waited to strike at any ship fleeing the system. The surrounding desert would be swept by Shadows Prosset Dibs, Masana Tide, and a squadron of scout troopers and two flame troopers. Septa utterly hated hot weather, her species was from a cold planet, and if it wasn't for the cooling fabric in her uniform working overtime, she would have had a heat stroke in seconds. It especially didn't help that the sunbaked sand was getting into even the smallest openings in her clothing, her boots, her pants legs, her sleeves, and raising her temperature even further. She was starting to envy the stormtroopers for their body gloves. Regardless, she and her team trudged towards the city while team B took to the speeder bikes and went to scour the desert for any sign of Skywalker or Unduli. Of course, throwing up more sand as they did so. How did it even get into her helmet?! Reopening her mask, she removed her helmet and violently shook it free of any sand inside and similarly vigorously tried desperately to get it off her face. She really hated sand. It would be worth it though. Unduli was close, she could feel it, and Skywalker was closer.

Anakin parked his speeder, glaring at the Jawas eyeing it before he even got out. There were a few stalls and shops with junkers trying to sell their wares. Ignoring the merchants yelling out to him, he knew full well what he was looking for, he compared the prices for the necessary power converters when he heard the familiar _hiss_ of a lightsaber being ignited. Then more lightsabers igniting, followed by blaster rifles clicking the safety off. Anyone who was on that street quickly fled in terror from what they knew was going to be a bloodbath. Sighing in aggravation, she simply said, "I don't want to fight. I just want to live out the rest of my days in peace, is that so hard for Windu to understand?"

"You, Anakin Skywalker, want to live in peace?" a female voice scoffed, "I'll believe you're peaceful when I bring your head to the Grand Master."

Rolling his eyes, "Really? He's not even pretending to try and preserve the Republic by at least calling himself Chancellor?"

"This isn't Republic business, it's Jedi Business."

"It's idiotic."

Septa flew into a rage, leaping above her opponent to bring her saber crashing onto his hastily ignited one. Stormtroopers fired off their blaster rifles while Trilla and Bil attempted to flank him. Anakin landed a swift kick to Septa's gut, causing her to crumple for a moment with having the wind knocked out of her as Anakin ducked out of the way of the opposite sabers, which clashed into one another as he leapt back up to his feet, deflecting blaster bolts.

Septa stood back to her feet and snarled at Trilla and Bil to go in for the attack as she went straight in for a headlong assault once more, each attack being effortlessly parried by the older and far more experienced Skywalker. Had Anakin not been primarily focused on not dying, he would have wondered if she had even been born during the Clone War. He could clearly see influences of Windu's Vapaad form in her fighting style, albeit unrefined. Sloppier than his, and she was way too gleefully leaping into the Dark. Sending a strong Force Push into her, Anakin sent Septa flying into the stormtroopers as Bil Valen attempted to bring down a vertical strike, which Skywalker dodged and counter-struck to sever his right arm.

The world around him froze for what was probably only a second but to Anakin seemed an eternity as the Shadow's arm fell into the sand around them, Bil yelling out in pain. Everything he had ever felt after the War flowing back into him. The fear, the anger, the betrayal, the regret, even the self-loathing he felt for years afterwards after blaming so much on himself. Christophsis. Teth. Obi-Wan's undercover mission as a bounty hunter... so much death and destruction he directly or indirectly caused. All those years of slavery for the clones, when he had wanted to bring slavery to an end. Even Padmé. He loved Luminara, and wouldn't trade their children or the years they had spent together for anything, but hardly a day went by when he didn't think of Padmé. His first wife. His first love. Was she only dead because of how much of a target he painted on her back? How many times had he almost gotten Ahsoka killed? He glanced at his own cybernetic hand, a curse he had now given to this Shadow.

Trilla lunged at Skywalker in a perceived moment of weakness, double-bladed lightsaber whirling in an effort to sever his legs. Forewarned by the Force he jumped above her blades and landed behind her, slicing back towards her only to be blocked by her second blade. The shooting by the stormtroopers began anew, forcing him to deflect the blaster bolts and leaving him open to another leg swipe by Suduri, which made contact and caused him to fall flat on his face in agonizing pain as his thighs were both bisected. The Shadows Septa and Trilla stood about him now, lightsabers ready to decapitate him. A few stormtroopers lay dead on the ground, killed by the deflected bolts. Anakin Skywalker was filled with fear.

_Fear leads to anger._

Despite his injury, he couldn't let his family be wiped out, couldn't let the Jedi be wiped out. Couldn't let his wife die again, just to sate a megalomaniac's paranoia.

_Anger leads to hate._

If they wanted him to be an agent of the Dark Side, fine! He'd show them his Dark Side.

_Hate leads to suffering..._

_For them._

Reaching out in the Force, he grabbed all their throats in a strangulating grip. He hollered with rage, allowing his pain, his fear, and everything he had ever had to bury even after joining the Reformists to fuel him. With a loud _CRACK_ he snapped every neck in his grip save for Septa's. She, in thanks for permitting her survival for another few seconds, sent her and Bil's sabers at Anakin with the Force and severed his arm and brought down supporting pillars in the shop around them, breaking his concentration long enough for her to fall to the floor, coughing. Grabbing Bil and supporting him out, she gave the hoarse order to the flame troopers which had accompanied them, "Burn it to the ground!"

"B-but sir! Erm, ma'am, what about-"

"They're dead! Just burn it!"

"As you wish."

Across the galaxy, Ahsoka stumbled, hand pressed to her head. Lux instinctively went to hold her up, "Baby? What's wrong?"

"Anakin," she barely whisphered.

Lux was slightly confused, "Uhm. _Our_ Anakin or-"

"I NEED THE SHIP! NOW!"

Septa watched for a moment as the flaming shop crumpled on top of the now fallen Skywalker, listening to his agonized screams. The losses were significant, but her master would be pleased. Now to meet with the B team at the ship and reutrn to Coruscant with the news of their success, at least one of the most powerful traitors was now dead. She would certainly miss Trilla, they had been good friends, but if she were to fall to anybody then the former "Chosen One" would be a worthy death.

As the flames spread across his body, Anakin screamed. All he could do was scream. Every nerve in his body was screaming. He had a decent tolerance for pain, so much so that most forms of torture were nothing to him, but this was far beyond torture. Using his single remaining limb, his now heavily damaged cybernetic hand, he reached out and tried to crawl his way out of the shop, thankfully being mostly below the toxic smoke from burning cases of droid oil and heavy metals, but his lungs far from the mercy of being spared the ever increasing heat of the air he was breathing. A shelf toppled and sent everything on it onto him, crushing his back and covering it with half-melted metal. Another screech of searing pain as he was branded by astromech parts and power converters, but still he crawled, waggling what little stumps of his legs remained to try and give himself even the slightest barely managed to make it out before everything around him went black.

When he awoke, he was laying on an operation table, with droids all around him, trying to cleanse his body of the necrotic tissue, each little brush amplifying the torture his entire system was already in. As soon as he screamed however, he was put under by an administration of anesthetic. When next he awoke, his bleary, heavily damaged eyes looked straight above him at a mask being lowered, red eye screens blinking on as it reached his face. He quietly whispered, "Padmé, Luminara, please. Help me," as the mask sealed around the apparatus surrounding his head. A final piece connected at the top of his helmet made a final seal. Heavy, mechanical breathing rang out around him. As the operating table slowly liften him upright, he saw Ahsoka sitting at the other end of the room, biting onto her knuckle as she always had whenever she was worried.

"Master?" she barely managed to say, "Anakin? Can you hear me ok Skyguy?"

He listened to the sound of his own assisted breathing for a few seconds, "Yes, Ahsoka."That wasn't his voice. "Where is Luminara? Where are my children? Are they with you? Are they safe?"

Ahsoka took a sharp, jagged breath, "I... I'm sorry, Master. By the time I got to Tatooine... they were already gone."

"No... No, it couldn't be." The makeshift medical station they were in began to quake as Anakin's new metal arms ripped off the restraints, crushing everything around him as the very Force trembled. He tried to yell out in agony, but his new support system's vocabulator did not have any process by which to understand such sounds and what came out was only a long, protracted, "Noooooooo!" He was now so trapped within himself; he couldn't even scream.


	19. Chapter 18: New Blood

Anakin was still trying to get used to his new limbs, the constant mechanical noise of his own breath, the ill-fitting machine he was now encased in. Ahsoka had brought him to her sister's palace, with said sister having overseen the admittedly quite rushed surgeries to save his life. The real question was whether he had wanted his life to be saved at all. He had lost everything. He had lost now two wives, his home, all his children, his stepbrother, his limbs, even his voice. What did he have left to live for? Was he born only to suffer? It began to lightly rain, the water hitting his helmet and running down his mask. He couldn't feel the cool or the wet, only hear the pitter patter of the droplets landing on his mobile prison, see the trails of water forming on his red field of view. Standing stock still, the only way he could avoid the constant pinching and jabbing of the machinery that had been quickly slapped together from decades-old parts. If he wanted to, he could probably work on it to give himself even a modicum of comfort, but why even bother? He had failed, and this was punishment. He deserved it.

Ahsoka stood not too far away from him. She could feel the waves of self-loathing pouring from him. Opening her umbrella, she walked towards her old Master to give him some level of comfort, even if it only meant standing in silence next to him. As she stood next to him, his new form looming over her, towering above her montrals, cape whipping around him in the wind. He looked like a dark specter hovering over her, his own pain anchoring him to the mortal plane. For a second, she wondered if saving him was really the right thing. Would he have wanted it? Wanted to keep living like this. The mechanical inhalations brought her back to the real world however, the world where she did save him. "Are you alright?"

Anakin stood in silence.

Ahsoka looked back towards the ground. "You had been standing here for a while, and the suit hasn't been fully waterproofed yet. We tried our best with what we had, but it was kind of last minute."

Anakin stood in silence.

Ahsoka stood in silence.

"Why?" he barely whispered

"Hmm?"

"Why did you save me?"

"Master, I knew you were in danger from our link. I-"

"Why did you not save _them."_

"Oh..." Ahsoka realized. "I tried, but when I got there, it was already ash. They were gone. You almost were too."

"Who did you go to first?"

"Your family," she lied. "I went to try and help them out against Windu's Shadows, but they were already dead by the time I came out of hyperspace. I sensed that you were just barely hanging on and ran towards you as fast as I could."

Anakin stood in silence once more. Several minutes passed between them. "Ahsoka..."

"Anakin?"

"You are a terrible liar."

The words were so cold she felt their chill running up her spine. She didn't need to see his face to know the pain they carried, the anger they barely contained. She watched as he turned around and walked back towards the palace where he had been sheltering. He wasn't sure what to do with himself now. All he knew was that he wanted to kill Windu, no, not even that was enough. The Force raged around him like a whirlwind. A hurricane of hatred swirling about his encased form. He could hardly blame Ahsoka for saving him over at least some of his family. If their positions had been swapped, he would have likely gone for her over her family too, but that didn't make the pain go away. It didn't get him out of this damned suit. It didn't bring his sons and daughters back. As he walked through the halls of what had apparently been Dooku's old castle, he banged his head on the low doorframe to the old throne room.

At least he was taller.

Jinn awoke in a small, dark cell. He took a shallow, shivering breath and licked his dry lips as he rolled off of what felt like a rock barely lifted off the ground. Barely a crack for a window he tried standing to see where he was, only to find his hands were chained to his knees, and he could barely stand over a low crouch. He tried using the Force to reach out into his surroundings only to find his connection had been severely limited. Noticing the blue bands that were his shackles, "Force Binders."

"Made specifically for containing Jedi," a silken voice replied from the opposite corner of the room, "Or Sith Acolytes."

Jinn's eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness surrounding him, but he could recognize the voice. The fire. He tried to lunge at the Shadow, only for his bindings to tighten and contort him into a ball once more as he fell to his knees, practically bowing at her feet. She slammed a boot into the back of his head and stood with her heel digging into the base of his skull, getting down on one knee and forcing as much of her weight on his neck as possible, "I lost a lot of friends to catch you for my Master. You are going to tell me everything I want to know, Jinn Skywalker."

"Why should I?" he barely choked out, breathing becoming harder and harder to accomplish.

"Let's just say I can make myself very convincing," she chuckled, igniting a blade of her saber and lightly brushing her captive's shoulder blade with it. As Jinn cried out in pain, Septa took her boot off his neck. "I wonder, where on your body could I carve my initials best. Unless of course, you want to cooperate."

"Even if I did know anything," he panted, "I'll never tell you."

"We'll see about that," Septa teased, making a quick jab at Jinn's thigh.

He had not inherited his father's pain tolerance, that much was certain, as the half-second poke brought out a guttural yell, much to his tormentor's sadistic pleasure. Grinding his teeth together he hissed at her, "I don't even know what it is you want."

"The locations of the remaining traitors."

"I don't know!" Jinn shouted, not that he would have told her anyway, but it was a comforting thought that even if he did crack, he couldn't give away anything anyway.

"We'll see about that," Septa cooed. She was going to enjoy this.

Leia crawled across the sand, nursing her wounded arm, missing its hand. At least the Tatooine dunes weren't sweltering at night. She had no idea which was she was going or where Mos Espa was, all she knew was that she had to find water soon. She had found a small oasis spring earlier and had drank her fill there, but it turned out to be a Tusken holy site, and she was quickly chased off when they found her there after coming to perform a ritual. They were pursuing her still, she sensed it. She did not enjoy being hunted. She hadn't eaten in several days, and only had a few drops of that Tusken shrine water left in her canteen. Off in the near distance she heard the war cries as the Sand People followed her. If she were able to find some hole to hide in, perhaps she could wait on the Raiders to run past her and she could get to sleep. She didn't even have her lightsaber anymore to defend herself with if they caught up with her.

Gràinne looked over the map of the galaxy rolled out on the table before her. On Naboo, resistance against the Republic was still burning strong, but disorganized. Imperial, or just anti-Jedi, sympathies dominated among the locals, but they had been crushed under the Republic's new weapons. Perhaps she could lead an assault to claim the planet for the Empire? Resistance to the occupation would likely be minimal. She shook her head, _"Tha cus ann dhomh a làimhseachadh an seo. Is dòcha gum b 'urrainn dhomh Darth Sadista a chuir airson a dhèanamh dhomh?" _She couldn't do everything herself after all, otherwise what would even be the point of having an entire Sith Order? Still, maintaining control over what was, admittedly, hundreds of power-hungry sociopaths was becoming more and more difficult. She could certainly trust those who had personally proven their loyalty and devotion to her time and again such as Vengeance, Iustitia, Desolata, but she had already had an attempted coup. Giving any she could not trust beyond the slightest semblance of a doubt an army tocommand would be suicidal and lead to a Jedi victory. Her thoughts toward her sister and niece, fine Jedi warriors in their own right, if the training sessions she had observed were any indication, though she would never admit such aloud, and certainly no friends of her new enemies. Had Ahsoka not said that there were several Schismatic Jedi in hiding? Her lips twitched upwards as she turned to face a droid. _"Faigh dhomh mo chamara holografach. Feumaidh mi clàradh a dhèanamh agus a chraoladh."_

Obi-Wan had sat and listened to Satine screaming at their son for five hours straight. He was honestly impressed that her voice hadn't given out yet, and that Djarin knew better than to argue back. Clearly, he learned something at the Academy. It was almost a relief when his commlink chirped, he wanted something, anything to get this to end. He opened the message to reveal a Togruta woman in Baskar armor styled in the way of ancient Sith Stalkers.

Well, he did say anything.

"_This is a message for any and all remaining Jedi who are being hunted down by your Republic," she began, "It would seem that your former comrades appear tae think that you're allied to us. Well, I offer ye the chance tae make it so, the coordinates to Talamh are embedded in this message, and we'll welcome any Jedi fleeing persecution with open arms. What chance do ye have otherwise? Together, Sith and Jedi, we can bring an end to those tyrants who hunt ye for sport and bring order to a chaotic galaxy. I hope ye make the smart choice."_ With that, the message ended, showing only the coordinates for Talamh: the central planet of the New Sith Empire.

Satine's eyes were wide as dinner plates as the message that just played in his hand, as well as those of thousands of others across the galaxy. It was hardly a private broadcast, and within hours the entirety of the galaxy would see this message and know of its sender. There was no Jedi Purge anymore; now, it was galactic-scale war.


	20. Announcement

This story is NOT abandoned, I refuse to be one of THOSE authors, but it will be on a hiatus for a while. Admittedly, I lost track of where the plot was supposed to be back in Ahsoka's twin, so I need to replan everything for this one. Add to that a new job, ideas for other stories, and filial piety, and I'm kind of stuck on where to go from here. If any of you have a suggestion, then please feel free to PM me or leave it as a review.

Until I get my planning skills in order, this is it. I'll also be trying to update the Coming to Terms story with Barriss and Riyo navigating a forbidden relationship on top of Barriss trying to get over her own internalized homophobia and accept herself as a lesbian.


End file.
